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speciAL 
coLLecxriONS 

tDOUQlAS 
LibKARy 


queeN's  UNiveusiT^y 

AT  kiNQSXION 

kiNQSTON     ONTARIO     CANADA 


THE 

S  P  I  R  I  T 

OF    THE 

ECCLESIASTICKS 

OfaUSeftsand  Ages, 

As  to  the 

Docfriiies  of  Morality, 

And  more  particularly  the  Spirit  of  the 
Ancient  Fathers  of  the  Church, 

EXAMINED, 

By  Monf.  Bakbeyj^ac^  ProfefTor  of  Laws 
and  Hiftory  in  i\\t\Jmwtx^\\.y  c^ Laufanne, 

Trajtjlated  from  the  French  by  aGEHTtHM  AH  of 
Gray'i-Inn. 

W  I  T  H    A 

• 

PREFACE  by  the  Author   of  the 
In  dependent  AVhig, 


to  ND  0  N :  Printed  for  J.  ?ttU  at  Loch\  Head 
in  Pater'7wjfer  Row.  1722.    Price  One  Shilling. 


Ae^  <:    .  rW'^    ^-'^ 


mk^'^f^^'^^ 


THE 


P  R  E  F  A  C  E. 


HE  foUowhg  Pjpers  are  a  Trcnijlatwn  of 
Fart  of  Mr.  Barbeyrac  s  Preface  to  his 
TravJlatio7i  of  PufFendorfs  Ti  eatife  of  the 

Law    of   Nature    and    Nations,    htto 

French,  avd  fully  Jliew,  in  a  Jmall  Compap^  the 
Spirit  avd  Pints  of  the  Fathers  of  the  P;  imitive 
Church,  fo  much  extolfd^  and  fa  little  defeiving 
it. 

The  Reading  of  the  Fathers,  and  an  Acquain' 
tavce  with  the  Fathers^  has  made  a  great  Noije  in 
the  World,  as  a  tnovie^itovs  Study,  entitling  the  Pro- 
ficients  in  it  tu  a  high  CharaBer  and  the  Reputa- 
tion oj  Learning.  Few  People  had  Leifure  to  leai 
thetn,  avd  fencer  would  take  the  Pains,  and  now  I 
thivk  vwjl  Men  agree  that  the  Pains  are  not  worth 
taking  :,  and  he  vho  employs  hif  Time  that  V^ay, 
whatever  Indujhy  he  may  have,  is  neither  envied 
for  his  tafie.  nor  admird  for  his  Acquirements,  ww- 
lefs  ly  thofe  wh-^fe  Applavfe  Men  of  Genius  are.  not 
fond  of.  The:  e  is  not  much  Glory  to  he  got  f«  an 
Employment  where,  to  excel  in  it,  noth'.ng  is  reqvird 
hut  great  Drudge) y J  emijient  Patience,  andnoTaJle,  or 

A  2  a  wrong 


The  PREFACE. 

a  wrong  one.  A  Clown  may  exult  and  fwagget;  becaiife 
he  is  an  accotnpUJJid  Plovglmian  •,  but  I  would  rather 
he  Jhould  have  the  Renown  than  I  •,  though  a  good 
Vloughman  is  a  good  Chata&er  in  a  Comitiy,  and,  in 
fame  Injiances,  a  drudging  Pedajit,  who  is  the  Plough- 
man iw  the  Learned  JVorld^  is  likewife  a  ufeful  Chji- 
raBer.  It  might  be,  however^  wijJ)d,  that  they  would  pre- 
ferve  the  Dijlance  and  Humility  of  Ploughmen^  and 
■not  value  themfelves  fo  much  upon  meer  Swcjt  and 

As  to  the  Fathers,    there  is  fo  little  to   be  learn  d 
from  them,    that  they  who  know  much  of  them,    are 
only  ejleemd  by  fuch   as    know   little   of  any  Thing. 
i^or  was  thei'e  ever  any  Thing  more  ivfolent  and  dif- 
honeji    than  to    refer   us   for   the  Knowledge   of  the 
Scriptures  to  the  Fathers,    who  were  fo  very  ignorant 
of  them,  that  they  almojl  conJLmtly  underjlood  them  in 
every  Senfe,  but  the  true  Serije.     They   have  fuch    an 
Appetite  for  Vijion,  Alyjlery,  and  Olfcm  ity.   that  in 
the  plainest  Texts  th'y  jind  Difficulty,  Darknejs,  Allv.- 
Jion,  and  Enigmas \  avd  explain  obvious  Pajfages  jufl 
as  they  do  doubtful  ones,  by  far  fetchd  and  7ny/}erious 
Gucjfes,  and  Aleaning<:,  which  contradict  cdnmov  Serfe, 
and  which  "none  that  had  it    wtndd  have  thought   of. 
A  xdciin  and  natural  Aleanivg  which  every  Body  coidd 
fee.,  would  votferve  tbeirTmn,  but  they  mv.JJ  extott  a 
Meaning,    and  fo  have  the  Glory   of  the  Dijove.y., 
and  their  Thoughts  like  their  Language  were  foic'd  and 
bombafi.     And  to  thefe  Men.    who  made    the  Jf'ord 
oj  God  of  nove  effect,   by  darkning  his  pbinejf   Pre- 
cepts with  falfeGlofje^  and  Figures,  we  a)  e  fent  for  In- 
fintBion  in  that  l^ot  d. 

Whoever  has  feen  Solomon's  Temple  Allegorized 
by  John  Bunyan,  may  fnd  there  a  Specimen  of  the 
Safiacity  avd  Abilities  oj  the  Feathers   in  explaining  of 

Scriptw  e 


The   PREFACE. 

So ipture.     According  to  John  there  was  not  a  Ku'ii 
In   that  Temple,   but  had  its  Typical  Purpofe,    and 
evoy  Bafov^  and  Pair  oj  Tongs  prefgiird  Jome  great 
Mype,)  to  come -^  and,  in  JJwty  eveiy  Stone  and  every 
Tool  in  the  Temple  piophejied.     And  in  all   this    the 
poor  pious  linker  did  but  tread  in   the  Steps   of   the 
Fathej  J,  without  hicwivg  it.     As  he  had  much  more 
honejly,  and  a  more  quiet  and  henepctnt  Spirit  than  any 
of  toem  i  fo  he  had  ^s  much  Invention  and  was  full  as 
equal  to  the  Bufvefs  oj  Allegory  as  the  bejl  of  them, 
and  his  Fancy  ivas  not  mo)  e  heated  than   theirs  ^  ani 
whoever  reads  his  Pilgrims  Progrefs  7ieed  only  fiip- 
pofe  hi7nfelf  uading  f/T!e  of    the  brightejl  Fathers  in 
£nglilh  •,  and  he  will  make  them  no  ill  Complement  j 
for  his  Imagination,  which  was  a  voy  ^ocd  one,  wai 
leallymoje   jugular  and   corre^   than  theirs.     I  have 
vjten  thought  the  Koficrucians  a  Sort  ofAlodernFathers-^ 
only  they  are  7nore  Jublime  in  their  Reveries  :  They  deal 
alike  in  the  fame  Puffry,  falfe  Rhetoi  ick,    and  their 
Imagijtattons  arc  alike  infain  d  and  extravagant. 

It  is  irrational  and  impious  to  fuppofe  that  Almighty 
God,  the  good,  the  merciful  God,  would  give  to  his 
Creatures  hiJiruBions,  Commands,  ani  Advices,  which 
were  puzzling,  ohfcure,  or  uncertain,    when  their  Eter- 
nal Salvation  was  dependi^ig  upon  their  conceiving  ani 
applying  them  aright.     Ani  yet  thefc  Fathers  fuppofe 
all  this,   in  fetching  from    his  Word  Inferences  and 
Meanings,  which  upon  reading  it  feem  as  diffeient  fotn 
it  as  any  one  Language   is  from  another.     It  is   but 
Juftice  to  the  Omnipotent  Being  to  believe  that  he  d^eaks 
candidly   and  ivtcUigibly   to   his  Creatures,  ani   to  all 
his  Creatures,    whenever    he  (peaks    to  them   at    ail  : 
But  this  Jujlice   the   Fathers    deny   him,    when    they 
make    him    thus   fay   one    Thing,    ani    mean    ano- 
ther. 

And 


The  PREFACE. 

And  m  more  is  it  to  be  fiippos*d,  that  the  Father 
of  Aiercies  would  cruelly  impofe  upon  jis,  an  ijnpojfible 
Thing  for  a  Duty  ^  /  mean  ihat  of  agreeing  mth  the 
Fathers^  who  jjever  agreed  with  one  another^  nor  in- 
deed with  themfelves.  No  People  upon  the  Eai  th^  ever 
differ  d  more  ^jio^  not  their  SiiccejJ'ors)  nor  proceeded 
to  gi  eater  Fury  and  Bittemefs  in  their  Diffeiences. 
They  were  conjfavtly  quarrelling  about  the  jmallejl  as 
well  as  the  greatejl  Poii.ts-^  and  for  the  fmalieji  as  ivell 
as  for  the  greatejf,  they  damnd  one  another.  It  is  to  he 
hop'd,  we  are  not  to  learn  our  Religion  from  thofe  irho 
wanted  Charity  \  nor  our  Charity  and  Meehiefs  froin 
Men  that  were  perpetually  quanelUng^  and  curfng 
each  other. 

They  indeed  contradi&ed  the  fir /I  Principles  of  the 
Gofpel.  by  turning  Meekjrefs^  Hu7}iility,  and  Self- denial 
into  Prid:\  Riches  and  Domination  •,  and  claim  d  all 
Things.,  by  Vertue  of  a  Gofpel  that  gave  them  Nothing. 
Are  thefe  Patter ns^  for  fuch  as  would  renounce  the 
World,  the  Flelh,  and  the  Devil,  and  live  Sober, 
Righteous,  and  Godl}?-  in  the  World  ?  Does  their 
Saintivg  of  VHhivs  and  Afajji'its^  asfometimes  they  did^ 
entitle  them  to  the  Ch.wa^er  and  Reverence  of  Saints  ? 
Does  their  eternal  Contention  and  Contradi&iov.,  Q^'-^^^fy 
them  for  the  Center  of  Unity  ?  Is  their  turbulent  Spii  it, 
and  their  wild  If  ant  of  cojnmon  Senfev,  their  ravenous 
Avarice,  and  flaming  Ambition  ^  their  Fwy  arid  Fight- 
ing, their  fiequcnt  Change  of  Opinion  their  Apfhuy 
avd  Murders-.^  I  f^y  '^'^  all  thefe ^  or  any  of  them ^ 
proper  Mai  ks  of  the  Guides  of  God's  People  <'  And 
thfit  thefe  Marks  belong  to  many  of  the  Fathers,  and 
all  of  them  to  fame.,  is  too  manifeft.  The  foUcwivg 
Sheets  will  prove  that  they  do  :  Indeed,  their  own  Wi  it- 
ings,  and  all  Fcclefiaflical  Hiflory,  do  little  elfe  but 
prove  it. 

We  have  often  heard  the  Diff enters  charg''d  with 
Famticifyn^  and  their  beji  Writers  have  been  caWdFana- 

ticks. 


The   PREFACE, 

tich^  by  Men  who  revere-ncd  much  greater  Fanatkh, 
rvhiljf  they  reverevcd  the  Fathers,  who  fay  out  went  in 
Fajjaticijm,  even  the  wildejl  Seciarics  that  appear'd  in 
England,  during  the  late  long  civil  V^ar  5  nor  were 
the  Ranters,  Sweet- Singers,  Muggletonians,  Fifth 
Monaichy  Men,  or  any  nj  them  all,  more  ft  ark  mad 
with  tnthujiafm,  than  the  Fathers  were -^  who,  bejides 
the  Tmbulency  oj  their  Behaviour,  by  which  they 
brought  many  and  heavy  Evils  and  Perjecutions  upon 
the  primitive  Chilians,  afjeited  Piijiciples  utterly  ir- 
icconcileable  to  human  Society,  as  well  as  to  Religion 
and  Rcafan.  Jacob  Behmen  was  not  a  greater  Vi- 
jivnary,  nor  vended  more  devout  Dreams. 

I  thank  God,  we  can  under jiand  the  Scriptures  with- 
out the  volujninous  and  contradi^ory  Ravings  and  De- 
clamations of  the  Fathei  s,  who  have  equally  perverted 
the  Religion  oj  Jeibs,  and  the  Religion  of  Nature  5 
both  which  are  clear  enough  to  thnfe  that  will  fee  them, 
and  do  mutually  confirm  each  other.  There  is  as  much 
Difference,  and  indeed  Oppnjition,  between  the  A^ew 
Tejlament,  and  the  JfYitings  of  the  Fathers,  as  there 
is  betwixt  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Talmud  ^  which,  by 
its  Fables,  Forgeries,  and  wild  Inventions,  has  mangled, 
darken  d,  and  perverted  the  Jlwri  and  plain  Hijlory  of 
Mofes  ^  nor  are  the  Dreams,  Fables,  and  Abfurdi- 
ties  of  the  Fathei  s  more  f acred,  or  lefs  glari^ig  and 
extravagant,  than  thofe  of  the  Rahbies.  Never  were 
f'.ch  ridiculous  Comme^ttators  vpon  Texts  ^  and  where 
a  Child  that  could  but  read,  would  not  have  niifsd  their 
Meaning,  the  Fathers  have  mifsd  it.  They  were 
fo  far  from  under  ft  an  ding,  applying,  explaining  or 
improving  the  amiable  and  evident  Moral  of  the 
O'fpel,  that  whoever  woud  look  for  it  in  a  Place 
wheie  he  is  fur e  not  to  find  it,  need  only  read  the  Fa- 
J  hers  i,  and  I  ftwuld  think  very  meajtly  of  our  Country 
Curates,  if  moft  of  them  coud  not  compofe  SyHems  of 
Divinity,  more  Rational  and  Scriptural  than  any  of 
the  Fathers  ever  composed.  Thus 


The  PREFACE. 

Thm  much  I  thought  proper  to  fay  here  coucevrnv^ 
the  Fathers^  by  way  of  Preface  to  the  folloTri7ig  Pa- 
pers. Whoever  woud  fee  more  elfewhere^  may  read, 
the  /g^ni'ff  Dr.  Whitby's  late  Latin  Treatife  ejititl'd 
Difquifitioncs  Modefti%  avd  Mr.  Marvel's  port 
Hifiory  of  Councils,  ajd  Daille  of  the  Ufe  of  the 
Fathers. 

I  am 

The  Reader's  7noH  humble  Servant, 


The  Independent  Whig. 


THE 


( • ) 


THE 


HISTORY 


O    F 


MORALITY. 


W^W^:  W  O  Sorts  of  People  ought,  in  a  parti- 
'^^^'^W'  ^"^^^  Manner,  to  apply  thenifelves  to 
SImh^  Morality,  vh.  The  Public  Minifters  of 
''^-  Pm:r^  Religion,  and  the  Learned,  or  thofe 
vho  profefi  to  cultivate  their  Mivds  by  the  Study  of  ths 
Sciences.  The  one  and  the  other  are  equally 
t'biiged  to  inform  themfelves  upon  this  Head,  and 
ro  inRruct  the  Ignorant  as  much  as  lies  in  their 
Power  ;  but  the  Obligation  of  the  firft  is  more 
binding  and  indifpen fable,  than  that  of  the 
laft. 


£ 


It 


(  o 

It  is  certain,  that  ^  Morality  ix  the  Daiiglter 
cf  Religion,  thjt  fie  keeps  tveii  Face  with  her  avcL 
that  the  Perfeclion  of  Alorality  is  the  Meafme  of  th& 
Feyfe&io7i  of  Religion.  A  great  Emperor  and  Pa- 
gan  Philofopher  has  own'd  this :  ^  "  Thou  wilt 
"  never,  faid  he,  do  an}'  thing  purely  Human  in 
"  a  right  manner,  unlefs  thou  knowell:  the  Rela- 
"  tion  it  bears  to  Things  Divine-,  nor  any  Thing 
"  Div^ine,  unlefs  thou  knowefl:  all  the  Ties  it  has 
*'  to  Things  Human."  In  elfett,  the  fundamental 
Principles  of  Natural  Religion,  which  ought  to  be 
the  Balis  of  all  Religions,  arc  the  moft  firm,  or 
rather  the  only  Foundation  of  the  Science  of  Mo- 
rality. Without  the  Divinity,  Duty,  Obligation, 
Right,  are,  to  fpeak  the  Truth,  <=  but  fine  Ideas, 
which  may  pleale  the  Mind,  but  will  never  touch 
the  Hearty  and  wh'ch,  in  themfelves  confidered, 
can  never  lay  us  under  an  indifpenfable  NecelTity 
of  a£ling  or  not  acting,  after  a  certain  Alanner. 
The  Ideas  of  Order,  Agreeablenefs,  and  Confor- 
mity to  Reafon,  have,  without  Doubt,  fcmething 
real  j  they  are  founded  on  the  Nature  of  Things, 
upon  certain,  moft  true  Relations  :  Even  fuch  as 
don't  difcover  them  diftinitly,  and  in  all  their 
Extent,  have  a  cor.fufed  Notion  of  them  :  Cur 
Minds  are  formed  after  fuch  a  Manner,  that  they 
can''t  help  affenting  tci  them  as  foon  as'  propns'd  ^ 
and  'tis  thus  that  the  Hovejlum  has  in  all  Times 
made  an  ImprcfTion  upon  Alcn  of  the  m-^fl  nn- 
'  '•.  ^-  civiliz'd 


^  Mr.AdMai.T)-xc\^x's   Prefjce  to    //;«  Moral  Refltdlionf   rf 

Mati:  A'Mony,  Par    i. 

»,  /-A  •■       f     .  f      .      >  ■        -  ♦■        ?  '  '    ',.  ~  "^       •? 

'!r^'i,itT  a'r;    eu-7r:f.My.'  M^rc.   Anronin.    L    5.      Par.     15.     Ed. 
Gacikeri,  5j  Vat.  12.   In  Mr.  {'i^cMt'sVerJion. 

'^   See   Rirhej'rac'j  Nites  o/i  VuS^nfi.   •'.   2.  c.   3.   P.ir.    jc.    X^. 
7.,  and  c.  4.  Par.  5.   N^of.  4. 


(  3  ) 

.civilized  Nations  But,  to  give  thefe  Ideas  all  tke 
Force  they  are  capable  of,  to  make  them  able  to 
keep  their  Ground  again  ft  the  PalFions,  and  pri- 
vate Interefts  j  it  is  neceflary  there  fViOuld  be  a 
fupcrior  Being,  a  Being  more  powerful  than  we 
are,  which  may  compel  ns  to  conform  ourfelves 
to  them  invariably  in  our  Conduct,  that  may  bind 
lis  fo,  that  it  may  not  be  in  our  Power  to  difengage 
cuiTelves  at  Pleafiire  ^  in  a  Word,  that  ma}'^  lay 
us  under  an  Obligation,  properly  fo  called,  to  fol- 
low the  Light  of  our  own  Reafon.  This  Fear  of  a 
Divinity,  that  punifhcs  Vice,  and  rewards  Virtue, 
has  fo  great  an  Ffficac}'-,  that  although  the  iun- 
damenral  Prii.ciplesof  Religion  (hould  beobfcured 
by  theMixtnre  of  Error  and  Superftition,  provid- 
ed they  are  not  entirely  corrupted  and  effaced, 
it  does  not  fail  to  ad  up  to  a  certain  Point.  The 
more  pure,  and  the  better  fupported  thefe  Principles 
are,  the  more  they  ferve  to  ftrengthen  the  Foun- 
dations of  Morality,  and  to  puih  the  Rules  of  it 
in  all  their  Confequcnces.  But  compofe  the  fineft 
Syftem  in  the  World,  if  Religion  ftand  for  no- 
thirg  in  it,  it  will  be,  if  I  may  fo  fpeak,  but  a 
Speculative  Morality,  you  v/ill  build  r4i  the  Sand. 
This  being  the  Cafe,  it  was  natural,  that  the 
Public  Minifters  of  Religion  fhould  make  Mora- 
lity their  priiicipal  Study,  in  order  to  conform 
themfelves  toit  in  all  their  Steps,  and  to  giv?  the 
People  juft  Ideas,  capable  of  producing  folid  Vir- 
tue. But  they  have  been  far  enough  from  doing 
all  that  they  ought,  and  might  have  done  in 
this  Rtfpcci.  Among  the  Heathens,  the  Divhies, 
the  Soothfjycrs^  and  the  PjieJIs,  who  declar'd  ths 
heavenly  Oracles,  and  called  themfelves  the  In- 
terpreters of  the  Will  of  the  Gods,  never  gave 
themfelves  the  Trouble  to  te  ch  Men  the  Rules 
of  Virtue.  And  it  mufl:  be  confcfs'd,  that  Lef- 
B  2  fons 


(4   ) 

Tons  of  found  Morality,  in  their  Mouths,  would 
have  been  very  ill  match'd   with  the  frighttui 
Ideas  they  gave  of  the  Divinity,  and  the   Wcak- 
neffes,  Imperfections,  or  even  Vices,  which  they 
attributed  to  him  b}''  a  ftrange  Subvtrlion  of  all 
the  Lights  of  Keaibn.     Accordingly  we   He,  that 
the  ancient    Dodtors  of  Chrift'anity   have   very 
livelily  reproached  the  Varans  with  this  unlawtul 
Divorce  ot   Religion  frcm  Morality.     ^  Thcfe  who 
teach  the  irorJJnp  of  the  Gods,  fays  LaBjivthis^  take  no 
Notice  of  avy  Th'mg  that  may  feive  to  3  egubte  jMjv- 
vers,  itvd   the  CovdiiB   of  Life  :    They  do  net  hi  the 
lea  ft  fearch  after  Ti  nth,  hut  apply  the  mj  elves  only  to 
lean:  the  Ceiemome'i  of  Divine  If 'or /ijip,  which  reqiiiies 
only  the  Mivijhy  of  the  Body,  and  in  which  the  Sevti- 
7ne7its  of  the  Heait  h.ive  no  Pait.     '^  T/'t?  Pagan  Fhi- 
lofophy  and  Religion,  are  two  Things  quite  diJlinB   one 
from  the    other.     Morality  hai  its  particid.n  Do&ois^ 
who  do  not  teach  the  Manner  of  approaching  the  Gods  .* 
And  Religion  has  lihewife  its  MiniJIers,   %vho   do  not 
teach  the  kides  of  Mor ality      Ficm  whence  it  appears^ 
that  there  is  no  tnie  AlmuUty,  nor  any   t)ve  Rdigion. 
In  Reality,    as    Mr.  Ba^;le  has  obfcrved:    ^   "  It 
*"  would  be  ver^  dilficult  to  prove.  That  the    Va- 
"  j^aw  Priefrs  required  anything   besides   the  Out- 
"  fide  of  Piety,  That  they  prefs'd  Amendment  of 
"  Life,  and  taught,   That  without  a  iincere  and 
"  lading  Repentiince  of  the  Irregularities  ot    the 

''  Heart, 


'^  Nihil  i')i  ('i/;  i/.")Vf<»;  fft,'^'■f_,l  <iilT  riinr,  q''0 1  p'oficiar  ;iti 
mores  excoleiKlof,  vifaiw;u-  fo' rrnrKi-.irp.  n^c  ''a'-ef  inqmn- 
tionerr!  -rfliqiiam  Vf-rir.^ns,  it'l  r-itnun  m^xlo  'ftcni  colrmli,  qn; 
nop  officio  inenri'.  fed  minift-rio  Cori-'oris  coiifl:«r.  ir.fi^t. 
V'ty'tn.   I.  4.   f,  5.   j-.jim,  1,   7.    Eii.Ce'  ar. 

'  See  Id.  Ihid.  num.  4  See  Sr.  Aiii^uftin  de  Civiiat.  Dei.  /.  x. 
t.  4.  '&  6. 

^  Conrimi  .rion  ^p  ^i»nr-''"<:  f'.iverf  s.  Art-  ^^.  p.  iig.  Set 
Mr.  Lock'j  Reajlnal  eriefs  of  Oniftiahin.^  p.  3';j-. 


(■   5  ) 

"  Heart,  Vows,  Offerings,  ProcelTions,  Sacrifices, 

"  Ordinary  or  txtraordinary  Sacrifices,   could  ne- 

"  ver  appeafe  the  Anger  ot  the  Gods. Jt  is 

*'  much  more  eafy  to  prove,  that  they  left  the 
*'  World  in  this  convenient  Delufion,  that  it  was 
**  fulTicient  to  be  bountiful  towards  the  Gods,  and 
"  to  follow  the  Formulary  of  Rites  and  Cere- 
"  monies.  The  Satyr  of  Perfeus  may  convince  us 
"  of  this,  where  he  thunders  againft  thofe  who 
"  make  a  Bank  of  Religion :  And  immediately 
**  after  calls  upon  the  Priells  to  declare,  what  can 
"  be  t lie  Efficacy  of  Gold  in  Holy  Things.  £  But 
I  dejh  €  to  kvuw  of  you,  ye  P}  iejfs^  of  what  Service  is 
thh  Gold,  which  is  hi  the  holy  Places  ^  Of  juji  the 
fame  Se}v'ue  as  the  Puppets  which  youvg  Girls  offer 
to  Venus,  are  to  her.  y^hyjhould  not  we  cffer  to  the 
Gods  fo7neth'nii(  which  neither  the  Cotta'5,  vor  the 
Mefiala\  with  all  their  ynagmfcert  Bafons  fltd  with 
the  Flejl)  of  their  woTt  exquifte  Fi(f7i;«.t,  can  prcfejtt 
them  with  ?  Vhy  fwuld  vot  we  <ffer  to  them  ayt  vp- 
ri^ht,  Jt7iceie^  gev^rous.  Soul,  pierced  with  the  woi? 
lively  !'  ejitivievts  of  Juftice  and  Honour  <*  /  defve  no 
more  than  this  to  prefevt  them  with,  and  Vin  fure  of 
ohtaivivg  n^h.nfoever  I  Jlmll  afk,  though  I  JJjould  fa- 
crifcc  to  them  nothijig  better  than  Salt  and  Meal  fningled 
tof,ether  ^^ 

''  Is  not  this   infinuating  that  the  Priefts  were 
"  the  People  that  fomented  that  mercenary  Tem- 
per 


K    Diritr,  Poiififjci'S,    in  Sa'i(fln  quid  far  t  atiriin:!  ? 
Nomp?  In*-,  qnnil  \'eneri  dotiatT  a  Viruine     Pup*. 
Quin  (l^m'i-;  id  fnpTis,  dc  m-igna  qtind  dare  lance 
Non  poflir  m^gni  MflLIpelippa  prnpapo, 
fnmpofimni  jus,  fafqiie  animi,  fanilofqiie  rerefTiis 
Mtiui<:,  ^  inco(fhim  generofo  pedtu?  honfflo, 
Hoc  cerjo,  uradmoveam  rempli?  &  f,*rre  lifabo; 

Ptrf.  S*t.l.   >ttf.  69,  tfr/r^. 

'•  ViL  Drydcn'r  Englifli  Tranjlation  of  Perfeus. 


( ^ ) 

"•  per,  that  Trade  and  Bufinefs  of  Devotion,  tha^ 
''  reigning  Abufe,  which  made  People  profiife 
*'  in  their  Vidims  and  Offerings  to  the  Gods, 
*•  imagining  that  the  celeflial  Powers  (as  much 
'•  delighted  as  Men,  with  Prefents  of  Gold  and 
"  Silver,)  would  grant  whatfoever    they    Ihould 

"  requeft  at   their  Hands  ^  It  does  not  ap- 

*'  pear  whether  thefe  Priefis  were  Men  of  Learn- 
"  ing,  or  had  philofophiz'd  upon  the  Nature  of 
"  the  Gods  :  But  we  have  ground  to  believe, 
"  that  they  had  not  Vertue  and  Probity,  enough 
"  to  teach  Men  to  place  a  much  greater  Confi- 
*'  dence  in  the  Purity  ot  the  Heart,  than  in 
"  the  exteriour  Practices  of  d'vine  Woriliip,  and 
"  the  txpences  of  Rehgion.  The  Gain  of  the 
*'  Priefts  would  have  been  too  much  lefTen'd, 
"  had  the  People  followed  the  Maxims  of  the 
"  Philofophers,  "  To  all  this  let  me  add  a 
PalTage  of  Socrates^  in  that  Dialogue  of  PUtos, 
which  bears  the  Name  of  Entyphron.  that  is  to 
fay,  of  the  Perfon  with  whom  Socrates  is  intro- 
duced fpeaking.  He  xvas  a  Soothfayer,  and  So- 
crates feems  in  his  Perfon  to  reproach  all  Prieils, 
and  other  Perfonsof  that  Charadter,  ^  with  being 
very  referv'd*  and  loath  to  com;rinnicare  their 
Knowledge  and  Underflanding  :  By  which,  in 
all  Probability,  he  particularly  means  that  whkh 
relates  to  Moralit3r,  as  is  infinnated  by  the  Op- 
pofition  he  makes  of  their  Conduct,  to  that  which 
he  obferves  in  his  Dialogues,  which  ordinarily 
turn  upon  this  Science,  and  whofe  only  Tendency 
is  to  make  Men  better,  and  to  infpire  them 
with  the  Love  of  Vertue.  Moreover  the  very  vSub- 
•iecfcof  the  Dialogue,  gives  us  to  underftand  clear- 
ly the  falfe  Ideas  the  Priefts   had  in  Matters  of 

Morality, 

«  "  lyctiJ  -^  -yv  fi  ^o-:,?,-,  G-TTXir-Y  'TiXuDv    -tr-api  'civ,   >c,  Sil  ccTiiUi/ 
inXy-.siVir  a-iAvliT  aoxixv.  TQin.   i.   pig.   3.    D.  E-!it.  Steph. 


(  7   ) 

Morality,  for  there  we  fee  Eutyphron,  who  be- 
lieves he's  doing  the  bell  Adtion  in  the  World, 
of  his  own  pure  Motion,  led  to  inform  againft 
his  own  Father,  in  an  Affair  in  which  he  pretend- 
ed to  convidt  him  of  Murder.  It  will  perhaps 
be  objected  to  me,  what  I  have  faid  ^  elfe where, 
in  one  of  my  Notes,  that  among  the  Pagajis,  even 
the  People  knew,  that  Vertue  is  agreeable  to  the 
Divinity,  and  that  Vice  is  odious  to  it :  Whence 
it  feems  to  follow,  that  the  People  were  indebted 
for  that  Knowledge,  to  the  publick  Minifteis  of 
Religion.  But  there  is  a  great  deal  of  Probabi- 
lity, that  thefe  Sorrs  of  Principles  kept  their 
ground  among  the  People,  either  by  an  antient 
Tradition,  or  by  the  Remains  of  the  Light  of 
natural  Religion,  or  by  botli  join  a  together  ^  and 
that  if  the  Priefts  did  not  teach  downright  the 
contrary,  or  if  they  even  recommended  Vertue 
fometimes,  it  was  after  a  loofe  Manner,  and  with- 
out ever  entering  into  an  inftrudive  Detail,  of 
which  they  were,  without  Doubt,  incapable.  But 
this  is  fifficient  for  my  Purpofe,  which  is  to  fhew, 
that  ainong  the  Rigajis^  the  publick  Minifters  of 
Religion  who  ought  to  have  made  Morality 
their  principal  Study,  concern'd  themfelves  with 
nothing  lefs  than  that. 

Among  the  Jems,  it  does  not  appear,  that  the 
Priefts  apply'd  themfelves  to  this  Science,  and 
after  that  there  were  no  more  Prophets  among; 
this  chofen  People  of  God,  that  is  to  fav,  a  little 
after  their  Return  from  the  Bahylomjl)  Captivity, 
the  Doctors  and  publick  Interpreters  of  the  Law, 
begun  infenfibly  to  corrupt  Morality  5  thcv  were  far 
from  difcovcring  its  true  Principles,  and  pufliin? 
them  in  all  their  Confcqnences, as  thcv  might  eafily 
have  done,  by  the  Aihiiance  of  Revelation,  of 
. whicli 

^  Oa  PufleuU.  1,  2.   c.  4.  par.   3.  Nor.   4. 


( ^ ) 

which  they  were  the  Depofltaries  ^  but  being  whol- 
ly taken  up  with  the  Civil  Law,  or  the  Study  of 
Ceremonies,    labouring    under  carnal  Prejudices, 
and  icrupulonilj''  attach'd  to  the   Letter  of  the 
Law,  they  did  not  apprehend,  or  even  acted  con- 
trary to  the  Defign  of  the  Lawgiver.     Upon  Pre- 
tence  that  God,    to  accomodate  himfelf  to  the 
Weaknefs  of  the  JewiJI)  Nation,    had   prefcrib'd 
them  a  great  Number  of  Rites  and  Ceremonies, 
they  prefs'd  the  Eiercife  of  that  exteiiour  Wor- 
fhip,  and  the  formal  Pradices  of  Devotion,  much 
more  than  Purity  of  Heart,  and  an  exact  Attach- 
ment to  the  Rules  of  Virtue  \  and  which  is  worfe, 
by  their  falfe  GlolTes  and  '  humane  Traditions, 
they  came  at   laft  to  deftro}''  entirely  divers  of 
the   moft  indifputable  Principles   of  the  Law  of 
Nature  ^  >"  they  invented,  for  Example   a  thou- 
fand  ridiculous  Subtilities,  to  make  Room  to  evade 
the  Obligation  of  an  Oath,  and  the  moll:  folemn 
Promifes  ^  "  If  avy  ove  (faid  the  Scribes,  and  Pha- 
rifees,  whom  for  this  Reafon  Jefm  Cbriji  calls  Hy- 
pocrites and  blind  Guides)  if  any  one  fwear  by  the  Tem- 
ple, it  is  nothing-^  but  wh rtf never  JImll  fwear  by  the  Gold 

of  the  Temple,  he  is  a  Debtor. JfHwf never  jlmll 

fwear  by  the  /iltar,  it  is  nothing  •,  hut  whnfoever  fwear- 

eth  by  the  Gift  that  is  upon  it,  he  is  guilty. Te 

pay  Tithe  of  Mint,  and  Anife^  and  Cuymnin,  and 
have  omitted  the  weightier  Mtitters  of  the  Law,  y^'dg- 
ment,  Mercy,  and  Faith  It  is  one  of  the  mofi:  pure 
Maxims  nf  good  vSenfe,  that  °  all  Vows  contrar}'' 
to  a  divine  Law,  are  in  thf mfelves  entirel}'-  void. 
Neverthelefs  the  Priefts,  and  the  Doctors  who 
depended  upon  them,    finding  their   Account  in 

Vows, 


•  See  ytattU.    ir-   5. 

B'  S-e  Maith.    ly.   3. 

n    Matth.    23,    :6,   i",  2.3. 

•   lufFtnd.  1.  3.  c.  6.  pnr,  ly.  1.  4.  c.  a.  par.  8. 


(9  ) 

Vows  made  in  Favour  of  the  Temple,  had  the 
Imimdence  to  maintain,  that  if  any  one  had  vow'd 
to  God  all  that  he  could  have  given  to  his  Fa- 
ther or  h  s  Mother,  fuch  Vow  was  lawful  and  ir- 
revocable ^  fo  that  after  the  Vow,  that  unnatural, 
or  rather  impious  Child,  was,  according  to  them, 
not  only  difpens'd  with  alUfting  his  Parents  in 
their  Neceilities,  but  could  not  even  do  it  in 
Confcience,  becaufe  of  the  Obligation  of  his 
Vow.  P  Whofoever  fiall  fay  to  his  Father  or  his  Mo- 
ther^ it  is  a  Gift  by  wbatfoever  thou  might  ejl  be  profited 
by  me^  ought  not  to  hamir  his  Father  or  his  Mother  5 
this  was  their  Decifion.  As  God,  for  Reafons 
founded  on  the  Conftitution  of  the  JemJI)  Com- 
monwealth, had  forbid  the  Jews  to  have  much 
Communication  with  other  Nations,  and  even 
exprefsly  commanded  them,  to  root  out  fome  of 
them,  they  conceiv'd  Sentiments  of  implacable 
Hatred  and  Animofity  againft  all  the  reft  of 
Mankind.  Thus  a  Jew  look'd  upon  himfelf  as 
difpens'd  with,  from  doing  any  Office  of  "^  Hu- 
manity, or  any  Duty  of  '^  Civilit}'",  to  all  Perfons 
of  other  Nations,  unlefs  they  embrac'd  the  Jewijf) 
Religion  •,  he  even  pretended  to  a  Right  of  con- 
fidering  them  as  fo  many  Enemies,  on  whom 
he  was  not  only  permitted,  but  even  pofltively 
commanded  to  revenge  himfelf,  when  he  could  do 
it  without  Punilhment  ^  and  far  from  being  able 
to  fet  himfelf  right  as  to  thefe  Orange  inhu- 
mane Onip'oiis,  b}'- the  Inftrudtion  of  his  Mafters 
and  Teachers,  he  ronfirm'd  himfelf  in  them  in 
their  School.     The  Pharifees^    big  with   the  Opi- 

C  nions 


''  M^tth.   i^.  5". 

•i  Sfe    T"ven.  Sar.    14.    105,  104.     Tacit.   Hift.  /.  y.  c.  J- 
and  the  Parable  of  the  Samaritan,  Lukt  10,  jo.  &  fe^. 
'  See  Mattk.  y.  47. 


(    'O) 

nions  of  yudas  Gauhnita,  imagined,  that  there 
were  none,  but  fuch  as  were  Magiftrates  of  their 
own  Nation,  and  immediately  eitablifh'd  by  the 
Order  of  God,  to  whom  they  were  bound  to  pay 
Obedience,  from  a  Principle  of  Confcience  ^  and 
upon  this  Foundation  they  { taught,  that  it  was 
not  lawful  to  pay  Tribute  to  the  Roman  Em- 
perour,  though  he  was  in  the  peaceable  PofTeflion 
of  their  Country  •,  they  likewife  did  divers  other 
Things  of  the  like  Nature^  as  our  Saviour  Jefus  Chrifl 
reproaches  them  in  divers  ^  Parts  of  the  Gofpel. 
The  Dodtors,  whom  the  Jeivs  have  had  in  the 
following  Ages,  to  this  Day,  have  in  this  Refpe£t 
onj^r  improved  upon  their  PredecefTors,  as  appears 
from  the  Extravagances,  the  deteftable  Maxims, 
and  impieties,  of  which  the  Tahmtd^  and  the  Books 
of  the  Rabbins  are  full.  We  find  in  them,  for  Ex- 
ample, that  it  is  no  Harm  "^  to  curfe  the  Chri- 
Giana  *.  That  it  is  not  lawful  "'  to  fuccour  an 
Idolater,  when  we  fee  him  ready  to  be  drown'd, 
or  in  Danger  of  perilhing  by  any  other  Way: 
That  we  ought  not  to  pertorm  the  Fundion  of  a 
PhyfTcian  to  an  Idolater,  even  when  we  could 
get  by  it  a  liberal  Recompence,  unlefs  we  be- 
liev'd  that  this  Refufal  would  draw  on  us    the 

Hatred 


^  See  Matth.  22.  17.  Jofeph.  Antiq.  Jud.  J.  18.  c.  i.  Sc 
de  BelJ.  Jud.  1.2.  c.  12. 

*   M^rk  7.   15. 

"   See  Groriui's  Letters^  Part.   i.   E'pifl.   122. 

" -Maimoindes  ile  Idololarr.  ex  Verf.  &  cum  Not.  Dion. 
Voflii.  in  fine  Tom.  y.  Oper.  Gerh.  Joh.  Voffi'u  Amft.  1700. 
Nnte^  that  this  RAbl)in  is  one  of  the  nioft  e/Jeem'd,  and  mofl 
j'ldicious  among  them.  There  are  other  Examples^  of  his  de- 
t^ftabie  or  rid^'-uJouf  M^ixims  of  Morahty^  in  the  ^ibjiracl  of 
hit  Treattfe  of  v.n  O^rh.  Nouv,  de  ia  Repub.  des  Lct^r.  Jan. 
1700.  Arc.  4.  See  aZ/o  B.^fiiage  Hift.  of  tne  Jews,  I.  4  c.  ty. 
Hhsre  the  Author  cites  dlrers  y'lU  Maxims  of  the  fewij}}  DoSiors. 


(  «i ; 

Hatred  of  the  fick  Perfon,  or  we  had  Ground  to 
fear  feme  Harm  from  hini  :  In  this  Cafe,  fay 
they,  it  is  lawful  to  fuccour  him,  but  on  Con- 
dition, that  he  pay  well  for  it  ^  for  it  is  not  law- 
ful to  fuccour  him  Gratis.  ^Thvs  havs  thefe  falp 
Dolors  ccnru^ted  the  Purity  of  Mofes'^  Morality .  '  ' 
Jeftts  Chrjfl,  during  the  Courfe  of  his  Minifb]^, 
never  ceas'd  to  combat  and  entirely  confme 
the  erroneous  Maxims,  and  pernicious  Cloffes 
of  the  JewiJI)  Dodtors.  He  re-eltabliih'd  Morality 
in  all  its  Purity  j  he  fully  difcover'd  the  true 
Sources,  and  gave,  as  to  all  the  Duties  of  Men  in 
general,  and  each  one  in  particular,  general  but 
perfeft  Rules,  entirely  agreeable  to  Reafon,  and 
the  true  IntereRs  of  Mankind.  His  Difciples 
preach'd  to  all  the  Word  this  moft  holy  Doctrine, 
by  Means  of  which,  well  underftood  and  explained, 
we  may  guide  ourfelves  furely,  in  the  Decilion  of 
all  Cafes  imaginable :  Neverthelefs,  even  in  the 
Times  of  the  Apoftles,  there  crept  into  the  Church 
a  great  Number  of  falfe  Dodtors,  who  began  to 
corrupt  the  Chriftian  Morality,  pretending  that 
to  it  >  ought  to  be  join'd  the  Obfervation  of  the 
Mofaic  Ceremonies  ^  although  the  Son  of  God  had 
mariifef^ly  freed  Men  from  the  Obligation  of 
fubmitting  themfelves  to  that  Yoke,  much  fitter 
in  itfelf  to  turn  Men  from  true  Vertue,  than 
to  maintain  or  produce  it.  There  were  likewife 
People,  who  teaching  another  Dodrine  than  that 
of  Jefus  ChriJ}^  ^  gave  heed  to  Fables^  and  ejidlefs  Ge- 
7iealogies,  which  mivijler  ^lefliom,  rather  than  godly 
C    2  Edify. 


*  /Vr.  Bernard,  in  his  Nouvflles.  Odlober  1701,  p.  ^^6, 
Mhere  he  titti  theft  loofe  Deci/tont  of  the  fereifh  Doflor. 

y  See  VjluVs  Epift.  to  the  Romans,  and  Galatian<)  4nd  Colod. 
3.  10.   feq. 

»  I  Tim.  I.  3,  4,  jr,  6,  7.     ftri  Peter  1.   1,  ». 


(  l^  ) 

Edifyiftgi   which  is  in  Faith,  and  in  Charity,  which 
is  the  End  of  the  Commandments,  both  of  the  Law 
and  of  the  Gofpel  j  rafcall)'  blind  Dodlors,  under- 
jianding  neither  vehat  they  fay    nor  whereof  they  affirm, 
have  turned  afide  unto  vain  Jangling.     >  There  were 
others,  that  defpifed  Government,  who  being  audacious 
and  f elf  willed,  were  not  afraid  to  f peak  evil  of  Dig- 
9iities-^  wbuboldiiig  Lifcowfcs  full  of  Vanity  and  Folly, 
drew  to  them  by  the  Lvjis  of  the  FleJJ),  and  by  De- 
bauchery, People  that  had  cUan  efcapedfrom  them  who 
live  in  Error,  who  ^  changd  the  Grace  of  our  God 
into  Wantonnefs:    Others,  laftly,    ^   That  held  the 
Do^rine  of  Balaam,  who  ^  taught  Balack  to   cajl  a 
Stumbling  Block  before  the  Children  of  Ifrael,    to  sat 
Things  facrijiced  unto  Idols,  aitd  to  commit  Fornica- 
tion. 

It  is  not  therefore  to  be  wondered  at,  that  after 
the  Death  of  the  Apoftles,  and  their  firft  Difciples, 
the  Evil  encreafed  every  Day  more  and  more. 
The  extream  Fondnefs  of  the  following  Ages  for 
^  Fables  and  Allegories,  ^  falfe  Eloquence,  and 
the  Reveries  of  the  Ptgan  s  Philofophers  •,  the  pro- 
found Ignorance  cf  the  Art  of  jull:  Reafoning.  and 
of  the  right  ^  Manner  of  interpreting  the  Holy 

Scripture ; 


'  i  Peter  lo.    i8. 

^  Jude  -ver.  4. 

'  Revehc.  2.    14, 

^  Ste  Numb-  22.    ^  feq. 

•  5fff  Biblioth.  Univ.  Tom  10.  p.  253-  &  Teq.  aniVi.in 
V'ln  in  fe«*  Bil)liotheqiie  of  Eeehf.  y^uth.  Tom.  i.  p.  7.  Edit, 
JHol.   andB^fn^ge's  Hifi.of  the  ]t\v%,  I.  5     c.  22. 

*  Ste  ArsCritica  of  M.  le  Clerc  Ton),  x.  P^rt.  2.  Se(f?-.  i. 
c.  17.  Par.  13.  &  feq.  p.  347.  &  feq.  Edit.  4.  and  ^\h\. 
Univ.  "Jom.  12.   p.  144,  fi/c.   263,  ^c. 

8  Bibl.  Univ.  Tom.  10.  p.  181,  ^c. 

fc  5eff  Defenfe  dcs  Sentim.  de  quelq.  Theolog.  d'Holl.  &c, 
Lett.  14.  Wotton  on  ancient  and  modern  Le^rning^  c.  23.  Lc 
Clsro  Epift.  Cm.<2£  Ecclef.  Epift.  4. 


(  »3  ) 

Scripture  •,  the  Impetuofity  with  which  Men 
abandoned  themfelves  to  the  Motions  of  a  heated 
Imagination  ^  the  Ambition  and  Immorality  of 
the  greateft  '  Part  ot  the  Ecclefiafticks,  who  were 
mere  jealous  of  their  own  Rights  and  Privileges, 
and  more  fet  upon  difcuillng  fome  Point  of  Djici- 
pline,  or  certain  abftra(SedQuefi:ions,  than  careful 
to  ftudy  Morality,  and  inftrud  the  People  ^  the 
frightful  Diforders,  and  fcindalous  Divifions  which 
fo  often  rent  the  Church  •,  the  grofs  Abufes  which 
from  Time  to  Time  crept  into  PracHce,  and  which 
at  laft  made  a  Reformation  necelTary,  always  fo 
difficult  to  Attempt,  and  ftill  more  to  execute  5 
the  little  Solidity  we  meet  with  in  the  greateft 
Part  of  the  Writings  we  have  left  of  Eccleliaftical 
Antiquity  :  All  this  gives  us  no  Ground  to  be- 
lieve, that  the  Study  of  Morality  made  great 
Progrefs  in  the  World  in  thofe  Times,  notwith- 
ftanding  all  the  Light  of  the  Gofpel :  But  that 
there  may  be  no  Doubt  remaining  upon  this  Head, 
let  us  enter  a  little  on  Particulars. 

''  jrho  does  v(jt  hww  ''fays  a  Reformed  Minifler) 
that  the  greateji  Part  of  the  Fathers  have  wrote  nothing 
vpon  Alatters  of  Covfcience  •,  and  that  thofe  who  have 
touch  d  on  it.  have  faid  nothing  vponmoji  ^eflioja, 
the  Decifion  of  which  is  of  Importance  ?  In  Reality, 
it  appears  by  the  Books  which  are  ccme  to  our 
Hands,  and  the  Catalogues  of  thofe  that  are  loft, 
that  moft  of  thofe  that  are  called  fathers  of  the 
Church  never  took  Pen  in  Hand  but  to  write  up- 
on Matters  purely  fpeculative,  or  Ecclefiaflical 
Dif:ipline.    If  they  treated  on  Points  of  Morality, 

*twas 


>  Sety  for  Example^  feyeral  Tajfages  nf  Grtgory  Nazianzsn, 
«n<i  Ribl.  Univ.  Tom.  18.   y.  5-7,  91,   no,  119. 

^  La  Placeite,  de  la  Coafcience,  Li  v.  2.  c.  x6.  p.  190. 
Edit.  I. 


(   14  ) 

*tw^s  very  rarely,  or  on  a  particular  Occafion,  an3 
always  in  a  loofe  immethodical  Manner.  The 
Sermons  which  they  fometimes  made  upon  thefe 
^rts  of  Subjeds,  were  fo  very  full  of  the  vain 
Ornaments  of  a  falfe  Rhetorick,  that  the  Truth 
was,  as  it  were,  ftifled  under  a  Heap  of  Figures, 
^d  pompous  Declamations.  Mofl:  of  the  Maxims 
of  Morality  which  they  fcatter'd  in  their  Works, 
were  drawn  by  the  Force  of  Machines,  and  ex- 
travagant Allegories,  from  a  Thoufand  PafTages 
of  Scripture,  where  quite  another  Thing  was 
meant.  To  be  convinced  of  this,  we  need  only 
read  the  Colle£tions  which  the  ^  bigotted  Ad- 
mirers of  Ecclefiaftical  Antiquity  hai^e  given  us 
ct  fuch  Thoughts  as  appeared  to  them  the  molt 
beautiful  in  the  Works  of  the  Fathers.  Moreover, 
thefe  ancient  Dodtors  of  the  Church,  even  in  their 
leaft  imperfect  Treatifes  of  Morality,  perpetually 
«"  confound  the  Duties  of  a  Man,  and  the  particu- 
lar Duties  of  a  Chriftian,  confidered  precifel}'-  as 
fuch  j  as  alfo  the  Principles  of  Moralit)?-  purely 
Natural,  and  thofe  ot  theChriflian  Morality:  On 
the  other  Hand,  it  often  happens,  that  they  make 
too  great  a  Difference  between  tlie  Man  a^d 
the  Chriftian  \  fo  that  by  carrying  this  Diflicti- 
on  too  far,  they  prefcribe  imprafticable  Rules. 
Laftly,  a  very  plain  Proof  of  the  little  Care  they 
take  to  cultivate  Morality,  is,  that  almoft  all  of 
them  are  fallen  into  the  moil  grofs  Errors  upon 

that 


1  Tar  Examphy  Mr.  de  Sicy's  Commentaries  on  the  Scriptures  \ 
*nd  the  inpeniou*  Thoughts  of  tne  Fathers  of  the  Church,  col- 
leSlti  by  Father  Bouhours,  their  profefs'd  Admirer.  See  what 
M.  Bcrmt^  fayt  of  them,  NouveJ.  de  Septembre,  1704,  p.  282 
to  285. 

°'  Buddei  Hid.  Juris  Natural,  P^r.  10.  ie/ore7j«  Seledla  J.  N. 
&  Gentium. 


(    '5) 

that  Head.  Let  us  run  over  the  mofi:  celebrated 
among  them,  and  they  will  furnifh  us  with  hw- 
nifeft  Examples  of  what  I  have  faid. 

"  Athenagoras  holds  **  the  jrorjhip  of  Artgeh^ 
and  fays,  that  they  were  created  to  take  Care  of  Thivgs 
here  below.  He  praifes  Virginity,  condemns  fecond 
Marriages,  and  calls  them  an  p  honourable  Adultery. 

The  Work  ot  Clejjiens  Alexandriyius,  entitled  the 
Pedagogue,  is  a  Book  in  which  ^  he  forms  the  Minds 
of  Touth,  and  lays  down  for  them  Rules  of  Chriflian 
ConduB.  In  this  Treatife,  are  fcatteredup  ajtddovm 
divers  Maxims,  ve)y  fevere,  and  different  from  the 
Cujloms  of  the  prefent  Times.  It  is  a  confufed  Heap 
of  Precepts  without  Order,  without  Connexion, 
full  of  Declamations  and  M)^n:enesi  in  one  Word, 
worthy  of  him,  'who  writes almoj}  continually,  with- 
out Order,  and  without  Coherence,  and  who  boafts 
himfelf,  in  another  ^  Work,  of  having  had  a  Dejfgn  to 
cover  and  perplex  Things,  that  fo  Jione  butfuch  as  are 
lery  intelligent,  and  willing  to  take  a  great  deal  of 
Pains,  might  be  able  to  comprehend  them.  There  are, 
in  the  Pedagogue,  divers  Paffages,  which,  in  the 
Opinion  of  Mr.  du  Pin,  ^  ought  not  to  be  read  by 
every  one.  As  Gement  of  Alexandria  preferred  in 
general  the  Stoick  Philofophy  to  all  others,  there 
are  likewife  in  that  Work  divers  Paradoxes : 
**  For  Example,  he  ^  maintains,  that  ^'  the  ChrU 
'*  Jiian  is  the  only  rich  Man.  A  Paradox  very  like 
"  to 

■    In  hit  /Apology  for  the  Chriflians. 

*  Dii  Pin  Bibl.  des  Aureurs  Ecclef.  Tom.  i.  p.  6?.  Ed.  d'HoI. 
P  Aivli^^  (yo^fj.'^)  iv-TT^c-TTr.;  In  fiotx.ei'x-  p.  298. 

1  Bill.  Univ.  Tora.  10.  p.  21S. 

'   Da  Pin  in  the  Place  aboyecited,   p.  86;    col.  2. 

^  Srromata  1.  i.   4.  &  7.  in  fine. 

*  In  the  ahoye  cited  Place. 

'^  The  Life  of  Clenaent  of  Alexandria,   l>jf  M.  Ic  Clito.   8iL>l. 
Univ.  Tom.  10.  p.  194. 
'  L.  3.   c,$. 


C    16  ) 

to  that  of  the  Stoicks,  who  faid  the  fame  Thing 
of  their  wife  Man.  Thofe  Philofophers  exprefs 
themfelves  thus :  That  the  wife  Man  is  the  ovlj 
rich  Man  ^  and  Clement  has  changed  nothing  but 
the  Word  Philofopher  into  that  off  hrijlian.  The 
Arguments  he  ufes  to  prove  his  Propofition, 
are  not  very  different  from  thofe  of  the  Stoicks^ 
as  will  plainly  appear,  by  comparing  what  he 
fays  with  the  Explication  Cicero  gives  of  that 
Stoical  Maxim,  in  his  '"•'  Paradoxes.^'  "When  he 
explains  this  Precept  of  the  Gofpel,  '^  Ifheti  they 
perfenite  you  in  one  City,  fiy  into  another^  he  reafons 
upon  the  Principles  of  the  Stoicks,  who  denied 
that  Pain  was  an  Evil  :  The  Lord,  fays  he,  does  not 
command  us  to  fly,  as  if  it  were  an  Evil  to  be  perfe- 
cvted  ^  and  he  does  not  command  us  to  avoid  Death  by 
flight,  cu  if  we  ought  to  fear  it.  Our  Dodor,  in 
the  following  Part  of  his  Difcourfe,  founds  the 
Commandment  to  fly,  upon  this,  that  otherwife 
we  {hould  give  Occafion  to  the  Perfecutors  to 
commit  Murder:  JefitsChriH,  fays  he,  would  not 
have  us  engage  nor  ajjiU  any  one  to  do  Evil^  &c.  The 
diimerical  Idea  of  the  wife  Man  of  the  Stoich,  re- 
prefented  a  Man  entirely  without  Palfions:  So 
likewife  Clement  maintains,  in  another  Place, 
that  y  j4  true  Chriflian  is  free  from  PaJJions,  even  the 
moB  innocent  ones^  *  except  fuch  as  regard  the  Pre- 
fervation  of  the  Body,  ns  Hunger^  and  Thirft,  and 
fuch  like.  Upon  this  Principle  he  pretends,  that 
Jefus  Chip  and   his  Apollles  had  '  no  Piifions, 

and 


*  Paradox  6. 

"    FJtromar.   1,  ^.   p.   <;c/I,. 

>■   Whom   h'   calls   Gurihc  (^rs-rocoi"")  that  it  to  fay,  one  that 
perfefHy  underftards  th<-  Chrifiian  Religion. 

*  L.  6.    p.  649.   Srromat. 

»  lb.  le  Clerc.  Leur.  Crit.  &  Ecclef.   F,p:{l.    i.   p.  iP>  19. 


(   '7  ) 

and  that  Jefus  Chnjl  himfelf  had  no  Senfe  elthef 
of  Pleafure  or  Pain  -,  that  he  had  no  Occafion  to 
eat,  and  that,  if  he  did  it,    it  was  for  fear  of  be- 
ing taken  for  a  Spedre.    He  likewife  very  incau- 
tioufly  juftifies  the  Idolatry  of  the  Pagans,  where 
he  fays,  that  a  Cod  gave  them  the  Sun,  Moon,  and 
other  Stars,  that   they  vi'ight  adore  them,  and  by  that 
irorjinp  raife  themfelves  to  the  trxie  God,     A   ^  Pro- 
fefTor  in  Divinity,   of  the  Lutheran  Communion, 
has  endeavoured   to  vindicate  Clement  upon  fome 
of  the  Miftakes  Tm  fpeaking  of    But  if  we  exa- 
mine all  that  he  fays  upon  that  Head,  we  Ihall 
find,  that  he  does  not  fucceed  at   all  better,  than 
where   he  maintains,  that  the  Pedagogue   and  the 
Stromata   are  excellent  Works,  both  in  regard  of 
the  Morality,  and  of  the  Stile  and  Method.     The 
Analysis  which  he  himfelfgives,  isalmoftfufficient 
to  perfwade  the  Reader  of  the  contrary  to  what 
he  pretends  to  prove,    and  to    fhew  the  little 
Foundation  of  the  magnificent  Elogiums  which 
he  beftows  on  the  Prieft  of  Alexandria. 

Tertullian,  to  fay  nothing  here  of  the  Chi- 
merical Vifions  and  extravagant  Aufterities  of  the 
Montan'ijls,  which  he  was  miflcd  into,  [eeins  to  carry 
a  little ''■too  far,  in  fome  Cafes,  this  ?noJl  true  Priyiciple, 
that  all  fiich  an  favour  the  JHcked  in  their  hnquity,  or 
in  any  Manner  whatfoever,  contribute  to  Evil,  are 
guilty  ;  and  to  take  Things  JlriBly  rrhich  may  be  ex- 
cufed  •,  as  for  Example,  the  ^  hearing  Aj  ms  for  th& 
Defence  of  the  State  ;  the  adorning  of  Houfes  with 
Illuminations  and   Laurels,  in  Honour  of  Princes  ^  to 

D  make 


*  L.  6.  Srrom.Tt.  p.  66q. 

•>  Mich.  Fortfchius  Comm.  in  Offic.  Arabrof.  DifT.    2.  Par. 
6.    &  feq. 

'   Dii  Pin.  Bibliotb.  c'es  Auc.  Eccl.  Tom.  s.  p.  102. 

*  D:  Liololarria. 


(   "8  ) 

tnahe  life  of  the  vfiul  irays  of  fpeahiitg,    though   they 
have  fome  Relation   to   IdoUtiy.     It  is  rrith  the  fame 
Spirit,  that    vivdicativg^    in  his  Bock  of  the  Crown, 
the  ABion  of  a  Soldier,  who  had  rejifed  to  put  a  G  oxpii 
on  his  Head \    he  yn.xintains,  that  Lhrifiar.s  are  abfo- 
lutely  forbid  topiit  on  Crowns,'  or  even  to  bcarAjfns.tiQ 
even  calls  thofe  Plumes  or  Crowns,  which  Soldiers 
life  to  put  upon  their  Heads,  the  Pomps  of  the  DeviU 
and  a  Sin  againli  A^iture.     When   he  declaims  a- 
gainft  Plays,  he  keeps  within  no   Bounds,   and 
gives  blindly  into  falle  Sentiments,   as,  where  he 
lays,  That  it  is  ^  the  Devil  who  puts  the  BvJIdns  on  the 
A&ors,   in  order  to  make  Jefiis  Chriji  lie,  who  has 
faid,  that  no  one  can  add  a  Cubit  to  his  Stature.     He 
afTerts,  that  a  Chriflian  cannot  in  Confcience  per- 
form the  Function  of  a  ^  J"dge,  nor  ferve  as  an 
Executioner  of  Juftice,     He  feems  to    maintain, 
that  one  cannot  be  an  Emperor  and  a  Chriftian  at 
the  fame  Time.     In  the    Booh  of  Monogamy,  and 
Exhortation  to  Chajlity,  he  condemns  abfolutely  fecovd 
s  Marriages  as  Adulteiy.     He  maintains  in  his  Book 
of  avoiding  Perfecuiion^  That  it  is  abfolutely  forbidden 
to  fly  in  the  Time  of  Perfecution^  or  to  give  Money  to 
avoid  being  put   to  the  Rack.     After  this,  it  is  not 
to  be   wondered   at,   that   he   condemns  Self-De- 
fence   againfl:  an  unjufl  AgE^reffor,  as  contrary  to 
Chriftian   Patience.     In  order   to   prove  this,    he 
ufes  Reafons  as  weak  and  trifling  as  the  Maxim  is 
in  itfelf  hard  and  extravagant.     He  fays,  that  the 
Gofpel  forbids,    ^   without   Reflridion,    to  return 
Evil  for  Evil.-    That   it   is  an  Attack   upon    the 

Rights 


*  De  Speft^ciilis  c.  23. 

■    De    Idolnlur.  cap.    i-,    19.  5c    tie    Co'ona    Miliris    c.  11. 
See  DhIIsbus  de  nfu  Prftrunn,  J.  2.   c.  4.   p.  2^2. 
2  Dii  Pin  105,   102. 
f"  Di  Pdtientia,  p.  i6j.  EJ.  Rigalt.     See  Rigauc'j  Notes, 


(    >9  ) 

Rights  of  God,  and  the  Homage  we  owe  him,  to 
aiTog  ite  the  Power  of  defending  ones  felf  as  we- 
think  proper  :  That  when  JefusChrifi:  faid,  Judge. 
rot,  le/f  ye  be  judged,  he  requires  a  Patience  carried, 
to  that  Pitch  •,  For  who  is  he  that  does  not  judge  ano- 
ther^   vvlejs  fuch  a  or.e  as  is  patient  enough  not  to  de- 
fend himfelf  ?  After  this  Manner  does  TertuUian  ex- 
plain the   Scripture,    and  on  fuch  Principles  he 
founds  the  Maxims  of  Morality    which  he  ad- 
vances. 

Origen,  in  his  Homilies,  is  full  of  Moral  In- 
ftrudlions  •,  but  they  are  little  elfe  but  Maxims  of 
Morality,  drawn  from  the  Scripture  by  Force  of 
Allegories,  and  told  after  a  Manner  not  at  all 
proper  to  touch  the  Heart,  and  to  produce  a 
reafonablc  Belief  It  is  well  known,  that  this 
famous  Dottor,  taking  in  a  literal  Senfe,  by  a  very 
profs  Miftake,  thefe  Words  of  Jefus  Chrift,  '  Some 
have  made  themfelves  Emmchs  for  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven^  put  in  Pradice  himfelf  this  miftaken 
Precept  ^  and  Demetrius,  Biihop  of  Alexandria, 
before  he  became  his  Capital  Enemy,  admired, 
this  Adtion  of  his,  as  an  Example  of  Heroiclt 
Virtue. 

St.  Cyprian  ^  was  married  at  the  Time  of  his 
Converfion^  but"  From  that  Time  forward,  even 
*'  before  Baptifm,  he  preferred  his  Chaftity,  as 
"  his  Deacon  Po7/rfi'i-  tells  us  ;  Which  (hews  that  it 
*'  was  the  Opinion  of  thofe  Times,  that  it  was  a 
'*  kind  of  Sardity  to  live  unmarried  :  An  Opi- 
"  liion  whirh  does  not  ill  match  with  the  Ideas  of 
"  Viirne  in  thofeTimes,  which  were  very  often  as 
"  dill  am  from  the  common  Ufage  of  Life,  as  the 

D  2  Rhetorick 


'    Matrh.   19,    11. 

"«  See  Cyprian'j  lift  by   M,  Le  Clerc,  Bibl.  Univ.  Ton[i.  ii. 
I\2i5j  216,  217. 


(  JO  ) 

Rhetorick  of  the  fame  Age,  fo  much  the  more 
efteemed,  in  that  it  gave  a  very  new  Turn  to 
Things  The  one  was  almoft  as  improper  to 
procure  the  Good  of  one's  Neighbour,  and  oi  the 
Community,  as  the  other  was  to  help  us  to 
underftand  clearly  what  was  faid,  and  to  ac- 
quire juft  Id  as.  Cyprian,  not  contented  with 
having  pa.  ted  from  his  Wife,  moreover  gave 
all  his  Goods  to  the  Poor.  He  had  great  Dif- 
ficulties to  get  over  in  parting  from  his  Wife, 
and  it  was  no  fmall  Mortification  to  him.  It 
is  very  certain,  that  the  Chriftian  Religion 
does  not  command  any  Mortification,  that  ferves 
to  no  Purpofe:  There  was  nothing  more  necef- 
fary  to  be  enquired  into,  than  whether  a  Pcr- 
fon  is  in  a  better  Condition  to  ferve  God, 
when  he  entirely  abiiains  from  a  Thing, 
the  Ufe  of  which  has  nothing  Criminal  in  it, 
and  which  he  can't  help  defiling,  or  when  he 
continues  the  moderate  Ufe  of  it.  However  it 
be,  from  the  Time  of  StCypriati,  this  new  kind 
of  Continence,  which  had  been  unknown  to  the 
precedent  Ages,  was  regarded  as  a  great  Vir- 
tue. ^  St.  Cypyi.17!  fcarce  treats  any  Thing  but 
in  the  Stile  of  a  Declaimer,  and  often  fays  the 
mofl  common  Thi.igs  in  fb  figurative  and  far 
fetched  a  Manner,  that,  if  we  don't  keep  cur 
felves  on  the  guard,  we  may  eafily  imagine  that 
all  he  fays  is  of  the  laft  Importance.  Unlefs 
he  had  had  fuch  a  Turn  as  this,  he  would  ne- 
ver have  took  fo  much  Pleafure  in  the  Reading 
of  TeituUian,  who  writes  juft  after  the  fame 
Manner.  '"Among  the  Arguments  which  he 
.  ufe$  to  perfwade  young  Women  to  abftain  from 

"  Luxury, 


•  tb.   p-  212.,  213. 
*"  lb.  p.  252. 


( 11 ) 

*'  Luxury,  he  fays,  "  It  is  ading  contrary  to  the 
"  Will  of  God,  to  ufe  Ornaments,  as  likewife  to 
"  blacken  the  Hair,  fince  our  Saviour  has  faid,  Tou 
*'  caimot  mjke  one  of  your  Hain  White  or  Black  ,  and 
*'  you,  adds  Cypriav,  you  attempt  to  farmount  a 
"  Difficulty,  which  God  has  declared  to  be  in- 
*'  furmountable."  A  Reafon,  that  either  proves 
nothing,  or  proves,  that  it  is  not  lawful  to  fhave 
one's  Be  ird,  or  cut  ones  Hair.  St.  Cyprians  entire 
Rcafoning  turning  upon  this  Maxim  :  All  that 
grows  naturally^  is  the  Work  of  God  ^  all  that  we  charge, 
iv  any  Soi  ^  is  the  Work  of  the  Devil.  He  feems  to 
be  not  far  removed  from  the  falfe  Ideas  of  Martyr- 
dom that  prevailed  in  thofe  Times,  where  "  he 
*'  "^  comforts  beforehand  fuch  as  having  confelTed 
"  Jefus  Chrifl:,  might  not  perchance  obtain  the 
"  Honour  of  being  Martyrs,  becaufe  it  might 
"  happen,  that  the  Perfecution  fliould  ceafe  before 

"  they  could  be  put  to  Death Which  fup- 

''■  pofes  a  Difpofition  very  diiferent  from  the  Sen- 
"  timentsof  him  who  faid  when  he  was  upon  the 
"  Point  of  undergoing  the  Punifhment  of  the 
"  Crofs:  Oh  that  this  Cup  might  pafsfrom  me  !'^  St. 
Cyprian,  in  his  Treatife  of  the  Ufeftilvefs  of  Patience, 
highly  extols  i'  Ahel  ior  letting  his  Brother  kill  him 
without  defending  hiiufelf  ^  thereby  making  him- 
felf  aTypeot  the  Conftancyof  the  Martyrs.  In 
which,  as  on  the  one  Hand,  he  gueffes  at  a  Cir- 
cumftance,  of  which  there  is  not  the  leafl  Footftep 
in  the  Hiftory  of  Gevefs  ^  on  the  other,  he  con- 
diemns  in  this  PaiTage,  and  elfcwhere,  the  natural 
Right  of  Self  Defence.    When  he  '^  is  to  anfwer 

fuch 


"  D?  Hibitu  Virgimim. 

•  Bihl.  Univ.  in  the  aboyt  cited  Place,  p.  148,  149,  270, 

»  De  Bono  PatientirE,  p.  114.  Ed.  Breni. 

1  lb.  p.  309.  ex  Ep.  59, 


(  "  ) 

fuch  as  rebel  againfl  the  Bifhops,  he  ufcs  an  Argu- 
ment, which  proves  the  Obligation  of  obeying 
blindly  "  all  Bilhops  elected  with  the  ufual  For- 
"  malities,"  or  it  proves  nothing.  In  his '  Anfwer 
to  a  Letter  of  i'7or^?Jt  Puphn,  a  Bilhop  of  ^/rzVa, 
*'  He  ^  equals  the  BiJIwps  with  the  Apojllcs^  avd  main- 
*'  talm,  that  it  n  injupportable  hjoleiice  to  pretend 
"  to  judge  of  them  :  That  Pup.an  in  particidar  was 
**  an  inj'olent  Fellow,  torefiife  to  acknowledge  Cypriaii 
*'  for  a  lawful  Bilhop,  till  he  had  been  convinced  in  his 
"  Judgment  of  the  Legality  of  his  EleBion^  Jince  it 
'  ^  would  follow  from  thence,  that  for  the  Six  Tears  that 
"  he  had  been  a  Bipop,  he  had  vo  Right  to  adminijier 
"  any  Sacraynent^  or  grant  Abfolution  to  fuch  as  he  had 
*'  granted  it  to.  Thus  the  Salvation  of  the  People 
*'  depended  on  the  Validit}'-  ot  the  Election  of  a 
*'  Bilhop-,  and  the  Validity  of  that  Election  de- 

"  pended  on  the  Hnlinefs  of  the  Bilhop 

"  Monftrous  Principle,  which  makes  the  Salv^- 
"  tion  of  Chriftians  fo  uncertain,  and  renders 
"  ufelefs  the  Virtue  of  the  People,  with  all  which 
"  they  were  to  be  damned,  if  the  Bilhop  was  not 
*'  a  good  Man,  and  if  he  had  been  irregularly 
"  elecfed/' 

^  Lactantius  pretends,  that  a  truly  good  Man 
ought  not  to  bear  Arms,  or  trade  with  any  Fo- 
reign Countries.  He  abiblutely  condemns  Ufury, 
and  looks  upon  it  as  a  kind  of  Rnbbe^3^  He 
carries  beyond  all  Bounds  the  "  Obligation  of 
Chriftian  Patience.  He  ^  maintains,  that  we  ought 
to  accufe  no   Man  of  a  Crime   puniihable  ivith 

Death  ^ 


'  Ep    66. 

f    Bibl.  Univ.   I!>.  p.  332,  533. 

^  Inftit.  Divin.  cap.  17.  J.  y.  cap.  20.  I.  6.  c.  18, 

^-  See  PulTend.  de  J.  N.  &  G.   1.  2.  c.  j.   §  14. 

"  L.  6.  c.  20. 


Death  •,  and  treats  fuch  an  Action  as  Murder, 
without  Diftindtion  in  any  Cafe. 

"  There  are  ^  very  few  Principles  of  Morality 
*'  in  Athanjijiiis  ^  and  thofe  you  meet  with  there, 
*'  excepting  what  regards  the  Flight  of  Per- 
"  fecution,  Epifcopacy,  and  the  Defence  of  the 
"  Truth,  are  not  fo  tuUy  handled  as  they  might 
"  be.  "  This  is  the  Opinion  of  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic Writer  ^  who  likewife  owns  that  the  IvJlruBiom 
y  of  St.  Cyril,  are  mittejt  in  Hajl^  and  without  much 
Care. 

'  SiUnf^  B  ASiL,  furnam'd  the  Great,  holds,  that 
he  that  gives  atwthev  a  mortal  Woitrd,  is  guilty  of  Mur- 
der, whether  he  attacked  the  Perfon,  or  did  it  in  Self- 
Defevce.  He  declares,  that  it  »  is  better  to  part 
thofe  that  have  committed  Fornication.,  than  to  7«jr- 
ry  them  together  ^  but  thai  never thelefs,  if  they  will 
marry,  they  jimuld  not  be  hinder  d,  for  fear  a  greater 
Evil  fiould  happen.  In  the  Celebrated  Letter  to 
St.  Gregory,  in  which  he  lays  down  Rules  for  a 
Alonaftic  Life,  there  is  one  for  the  Regulation  ^ 
of  the  Behaviour  of  Monks,  which  appears  di- 
rectly contrary  to  that  of  Jefus  Chrifl  in  the  Gof- 
pel,  {Matth.  6.  l6,  17.)  for  this  Father  fays 
that  the  Humility  of  the  Solitary  JJ)ould  appear  in  all  his 
Behaviour  -,  that  he  JJmuld  have  the  Eye  fad.,  and  look- 
ing down  on  the  Earth-,  his  Hair  difcompos'd,  his 
Garment  najly  and  tattered.  In  the  little  Treatife 
of  reading  •=  the  Greek  Jf^riters  with  Profit,  I  find  two 
or  three  very  extravagant  Maxims.    He  pretends 

that 


'■  Dii  Pin  Ribl.   des  Aur.  Fxclef.  Tom.  2.  p.  5-4. 
'  lb.  p.  145. 

*  II).  p.  179.   ex  Epift.  2.  ai!  Araphilorh.   Can.  4- 

*  Can    16. 

''  Ril)l.  Univ.  T.Tm.  77.   p.  412,  415. 

'  Homil.  de  legend.  CJrsc.  p.r.  7.  td.  Oxon.  1594. 


that  it  is  unlawful  for  Chriftians  ever  to  go  to 
Law.  He  feems  to  ^  underftand  literally  thefe 
proverbial  Words  of  Jefus  Chriji  -,  If  any  one  Jirike 
you  on  the  right  Cheek,  turn  to  hhn  alfo  the  left :  And 
he  finds  that  Socrates  did  fomething  very  like 
that,  which  is  there  commanded,  when  he  pa-, 
tiently  endur'd  a  fevere  Banging  from  an  info- 
lent  Fellow,  that  was  enrag'd  againft  him.  He 
believes,  that  it  is  ^  never  lawful  to  fwear  ^  and 
thereupon  propofes  the  Example  of  a  Pythagorean, 
who  chole  rather  to  loofe  three  hundred  Talents,> 
that  is,  about  eighteen  hundred  Crowns,  than 
take  an  Oath,  though  he  could  have  done  it  with 
a  fafe  Confcience. 

Gregory  ^of  Nazianzum,  writes  with- 
out much  Order.  — —  His  Style  is  excejjively  full  of 

Metaphors,  very  iJicorreB^  and  fojnetimes  harjij. 

*'  He  g  runs  out  againft  the  Boldnefs  of  the  Arians, 
"  and  Macedonians,  who  were  at  leaft  as  numerous 
"  as  the  Orthodox,  and  had  the  Impudence  to 
"  meet  together,  and  form  Churches  •,  horrible  At- 
"  tempt  after  the  Decifion  of  a  Council,  fo  or-> 
*'  derly  as  that  which  had  been  ^  juft  then  held  ! 
"  Gregory  could  not  underftand  how  his  Holinefs 
"  and  his  Gravity  (this  was  the  Manner  of  treat- 
*'  ing  Billiops  in  thofe  Days  ^  Gregory  was  writ- 
"  ing   to   NeBarim)    could  fuffer  the  Apollinarijis 

"  to  meet  together.  ■ He  thought,  for  what 

"  Reafon  I  can't  imagine,  that  allowing  thofe 
"  People  to  meet  together,  was  granting  them 
"  that  their  Doctrine  was  truer  than  that  of  the 

"  Council, 


*  lb.  par.  1 3. 

*  I'ad. 

'  See  hit  Life  by  Mr,  le  Clerc.  Bibl.  Univ.  Tom.  18.  p,  23. 

^  IMd    p.  1 1  4.  II  ^. 

»■  TheCouncilof  Conllaiuinoplet 


(M ) 

"  Council,  fince  there  could  not  be  two  Truths  5  as 
"  if  the  tolerating  of  any  one,  was  fignifying  our 
*'  AlTent  to  the   Truth  of  his  Opinions !  Laftly 
"  he  exhorts  Ne^arhis^  to  reprcfent  to  the   Em- 
*'  perour,  that  that  which  he  had  done  in  Fai'our 
"  of  the  Church,  would  be  of  no  Service,  if  the 
"  Hereticks  ihould  be  allow'd  to  afTemble  toge- 
*'  then    Thus  honeft  Gregory,   who,    whilft  the 
*'  Ar'iam  were  moft  powerful,  having  the  Em- 
*'  peronr  of  their  Side,  was  againll  doing  thet 
"  which  he   blam'd    in   them,   advis'd   his  Suc- 
"  cefTour  to  forget   that    wholefome    Leflbn.   " 
When  the  Emperour  Julian,  added  Infult  to  his 
ill   Treatment  of  the  Chriftians,    and   defpoil'd 
them  of  their  Goods,  telling  them  he  only  helped 
'em  to  obferve  the  Gofpel,  which  commands  them 
to  defpife  Riches,  "  •  Gr^^orji  anfwers  this,  among 
**  other  Things,   that  Julian,  by  ufing  'em  after 
"  that  Manner,  mufl  needs  think  that  the  Gods 
"  of  the  Pagans^  were  pleas'd  to  fee  People  plun- 
*'  der'd,  though  they  bad  deferv'd  no  fuchUfagc; 
*'  and  fo   of  Confequence  approve   of  Injuftice. 
*'  He  might  have  been  contented  with  this  An- 
"  fwer,  but  he  adds  that  there  are  fome  Things, 
"  which  Jefm  Chrijf  has  commanded  as  neccflary, 
**  and  other  Things,  which  he  has  propos'd  fim- 
'■'  ply,  for  fuch  as  are   willing  to  obferve  them, 
*'  without  laying  any  one  under  an  indifpenfa- 
"  ble  Obligation  of  doing  it.    Such,  according  to 
*■  G^e^ory,  is  the  Command  to  forfake  the  Things 
"  of  this  Life."     By  which  we  fee  that  he  fup- 
pofes  a  pretended  Advice,  to  abandon  ones  Eftate, 
^^'hcn  \VQ  have  no  particular  Reafon  for  fo  doing; 
Whereas  it  is  a  real  Commandment,  but  which 

£  is 

'  IbiJ.    p.  4j,  tfd. 


{16) 

.  is.  incumbent  on  us,  only  when  we  can't  prcferve 
our  Goods,  without  breaking  in  upon  our  Duty, 
and  violating  feme  Maxim  ot  the  Golpel. 

Sahit  '^Ambrose  carries  the  Efteem  of  Virgi- 
nity, and  Celibacy  lb  tar,    that  he  feems  to  re- 
gard Matrimony  as  an  indecent  Thing.    He  fays 
.. -k  very  plainly,  that,  hefo-ic  the  Law  oj  Mofes,  avd 
■.'that  of  the  Gofpel,  Adidteiy  wai  mt  for  bidden.     If 
he  be  loofe  upon  this  Head,  he  feems  too  r"gid 
upon  another,  J  mean,  upon  lending  "^  Money  to 
Ufury,  which  he  condemns  abfolutel}'-,    without 
any  Exception.    The  TreatTe  of  Offices  is  a  Book 
which  he  wrote  to  teach  Ecclefiafticks  their  Duty. 
.  Although  "  the  Name  of  Minillers,  is  Jiruck  out  of  the 
Roman  Editiofi,  and  thefollowivg  ones,  it  is  found  iii 
all  the  Manufcripts,  and  it  is  plain  by  the  Work  itfelf^ 
that  St.  A  M  B  R  o  s  E.  wrote  it  for  the  Ecclefajiich. 
But  though  he  addreffes  himfelf  to  the7n^  he  Ukewife 
treats  of  the  Duties  oj  all  Ch  ijfians,  of  which  he  makes 
a.paitictdar  Application  to  Ecckfajlicks.     We  fee  by 
the  little,    and  the  Manner  in  which  he  treats 
his  Subject,  that   he  delign'd  to  imitate  Cicero's 
Offices.     But  notwithflandijig  wliat  has  been  f  id, 
by  a  °  Lutheran  Divine,  who  publilh'd  this  Work 
at  Jfirt^mbejj,  in  the  Year  1698,  with  fome  Dif- 
fertations  of  his  own?  if   we  except  the  particu- 
lar Principles  of  the  Gofpel,  whi(  h  St.  Ambrose 
has  fcatter'd  about  in  this  Work,  with  the  Ex- 
amples and  PafTages  of  Hcl}'  Scripture,  which  he 

perpe- 


^  De  Inditur.  Virgin.  Si  raflim  alibi.  Ste  Dall.  c'e  Ufu  P.i- 
tnim,  p.  27a. 

'  lAh.  t.  tie  P^triarcli.  Abr'.ili.  cap.  4.  See  DaW.  ubi  Suj'ra. 
Mr.H.iyk,   D.ft.  Tom.  3.  p.  167c.   Knr. 

'■•'  D3  Tob-ta  c.  3.  &'iT-  See  M.  Nnotlt  de  Toen.  &  LTorig 
I.   I.  c.  4.   c.  10.  p.  64.  &  fe<].  and  du  FiU,  T.  2.  p   2j6. 

"  Du  Pin,  T.  2.  p.  777,25^. 

°  Fo)  tfchius  Profefi>ur. 


perpetually  cites,  but  generally  very  ill  apply'd  j 
I  doii't  ftick  to  fay,  that  the  Copy  is  infinitely  . 
below  the  Original,  whether  you  confider  the  . 
Purity  and  Laiinefs  of  the  Style,  or  the  Compo-^ 
lition  of  the  Work  ;,  and  the  (Jrder  of  the  T-hings 
contain'd  in  it,  or  the  Solidity  ot"  the  Thoughts, 
and  Jultnefs  of  the  Rcafoning  :  For  Example, 
fee  here  the  Contents  of  the  Fhjl  Rook.  After 
a  Kind  of  a  Preface  upon  the  Queftion,  wheyi  atii 
in  what  Marnier  it  is  proper  to  /peak  cr  hold 
ones  Tongue  -^  he  enters  upon  his  Subject,  in  the  8th  ■ 
Chapter,  with  fome  Grammatical  Remarks,  which 
have  no  Foundation.  In  the  loth  Chapter,  he 
treats  of  good  ^  Breeding,  the  firft  Part  of  which 
he  makes  to  confift  in  the  Ait  of  gcvermvg  eves 
Tongues ',  in  the  nth  Chapter,  he  diftinguifhes 
tvv^3  Sorts  of  Duties,  the  Middle,  ?.nd  the  PerfeS. 
He  places  in  the  Rank  of  the  laft,  the  Love  of 
our  Enemies,  Prayers  for  fuch  as  caluniinate  us, 
or  injure  us  in  any  other  Manner,  and  the  Works 
of  Mercy.  The  12th  and  following  Chapters, 
to  the  T7th,  turn  upon  the  Subjcd  of  Providence, 
which  he  endeavours  toeflablifh  and  defend,  the 
beft  he  can,  ae^ainft:  the  Murmurings  of  fuch  as 
are  expos'd  in  this  World  to  great  Afflidlions,  and 
agajnil:  the  Objedions  of  Libertines  and  wicked 
Men.  In  the  17th  and  following  Chapters,  hq 
treats  of  the  Duties  of  Youth.  Having  fpoken 
occaflonally  at  the  End  of  the  24th  Chapter,  of 
the  four  Cardinal  Vertues,  Pnidevce,  Juflice,  For- 
titude, and  Tewperajrce,  he  begins  his  Difcourfe  up- 
on them,  but  very  ilightly,  in  the  2')th  Chapter, 
where  finding  himfelf  the  Diforder  of  his  Dif- 
coorfe,  he  attempts  to  excufc,  or  rather  juflify  it 
in  thefe  Words. 

E  2  f  Perhaps 

?  Mr.  du  Pin   ow«j  tt  in  the  thore  <tted  Place, 


( 12 ) 

Ferbaps  it  '^  mil  he  faid,  that  we  ought  to  have  be- 
gun our  Difcourfe^  with  this  Siibjed^  Jince  from  thefe 
four  VertueSf  fpi'i^g  ike  diferejit  Soits  of  Obligations : 
But  that  would  have  heen^  to  covfovm  to  the  Rules  of 
Arty  accordivg  to  which  we  ought  at  frjl  to  have  de- 
fnd  the  Obligation,  and  afterwards  divided  it  into  the 
different  Sorts  Bid  we  have  dejignedly  avoided  tying 
ourfelves  up  to  thefe  Rides :  Ue  are  content  with  p;o- 
pojing  Examples^  taken  from  the  Condu^I  of  our  Jv- 
cefiors  -J  that  which  is  not  difficult  to  he  underjhcd,  and 
does  7Wt  require  the  Subtleties  of  a  methodical  U'l  iter. 
In  the  28th  Chapter,  he  very  prepoiieroully  at- 
tempts to  fhew,  the  Falfit}?-  of  two  of  the  Fun- 
ftions  which  Cicero  attributes  to  Juft  ce  •,  and 
this  is  not  the  only  PaiTage  where  he  critic  zes 
without  Reafon,  on  the  Pagan  Philofophers,  by  miC 
tailing  their  Sentiments,  or  refuting  Things  that 
are  moil  indifputable.  Towards  the  End  of  this 
ftrft  Book,  he  returns  to  the  Ecclefiafticks,  whofe 
principal  Vertues  he  defcribes,  and  ends  with  a 
Difcourfe  of  the  Sacrednefs  of  a  TjuJI.  He  does 
not  begin  his  Difcourfe  of  Blejfednefs  till  he  comes 
to.  the  Beginning  of  the  2d  Book.  The  fame  Con- 
fufion  and  want  of  Method  runs  through  the 
whole  Work.  He  maintains  that  a  ''  Chrijfian  ought 
VDt  to  fght  again]}  a  Robber  who  attacks  him,  and 
lays  it  down  as  a  general  Maxim,  that  it  is  never 
lawful  to  preferve  ones  Life,  by  occaf oiling  the  Death 
of  another.  He  likewile  lays  it  down  as  a  gene- 
ral Rule,  that  07te  cannot  lawfully  do  a  Thing  which 
IS  not  ^  exprefly  aUcw'd  and  aitthorixd  by  the  Scrip- 
ture-^ and  on  this  Principle,  he  abfolutely  forbids 
the  Ecdefiafticks,.  all  Sorts  of  Raillery.    It  is  not 


*  I.  I.  cap.  25.  Iiiir. 

*-Dn-PrTT,  p.  267.  Ambraf.  I.    5.    e    4. 

^  L.  I.  c.  2.3.    S«f  Ritb*yiiC  du  _feu,  I.  i.    c,  3.   $.  5. 


(  i9  ) 

to  be  wonder'd  at  that  he  condemns  (  L.  i.  Cap. 
50)  fecond  Marriages :  Divers  others  were  of  the 
lame  Opinion,  as  we  have  already  obferv'd,  be- 
fore his  Time. 

Saivt  C  H  R  I  s  o  s  T  o  M  treating  of  Ufury,  gives 
« into  very  extravagant  Opinions,  as  divers  other 
Fathers  had  done.  The  fame  Doctor,  fpeaking 
oi  the  Expedient  "  Abraham  us'd  lor  the  fecond 
Time,  when  he  was  afraid  of  being  kill'd,  it"  it 
fhould  be  known  that  he  was  the  Huiband  of 
Sarah  ^  makes  no  Ditf.culty  of  telling  his  Audi- 
tors :  "  Toil  "■"  kv.otp  very  well^  that  nothing  makes  a  Hus- 
''  ha-tid  more  tiveafy,  than  to  fee  his  Wife  fifpt&ed  of 
"  havivii,  been  in  the  Fewer  of  another  ^  and  yet,  ^  tlm 
"  juji  Man  does  all  hepojfibly  can,  that  the  Ah  of  Add- 
*'  tei  y  may  be  compleated. — He  afterw^^rds  highly  ei- 
"  tols  his  Courage  and  Prudence. — Then  heexcufes 
**  him  for  having  confented  to  his  Wife's  Adul- 
"  tery,  upon  this  Account,  namely,  that  Death, 
"  which  had  not  as  yet  been  defpoil'd  of  his  Ty- 
"  ranny,  did  at  that  Time  infpire  great  Terrour- 
"  After  this  Elogium  of  the  Hufband,  he  paffes 
*'  to  the  Praifes  of  the  Wife,  and  fays,  that  fhe 
*'  heajtily  accepted  the  Propofal,  and  did  all  Ihc 
*'  could  to  play  her  y  Part  well  in  the  Comedy. 
"  Thereupon  he  exhorts  Wives  to  imitate  her 
*'  in  this,  and  cries  nut  :  Who  can  help  admirivg 

this  great  Forwardvefs  of  hers  to  obey  ^  IfHyo  can 
"  ftifficievtly  commend  Sarah,  for  that  after  fuch  Con- 
*''  tinence.  and  at  her  Age,  jhe  was  villing  to  fubrmt 
"  to  ^  Adultery^  and  deliver  vp  her  Body  to  Barba- 
rians. 


*  Ste  M.  Noodt  de  Foen,  &  Ufnris,  J.  1.  1.4    &  fi. 
^   Ciciipf  cap.  20. 

"  V)i!is  taltnfrom  Bayk's  DUlion.  in  thtArtk'g  Abimekch. 
Note  A. 

"  Homil.  32  in  Gencf. 
y   Il)id. 

*  Ibid. 


r  3° )     _ 

*'  rians,  in  Order  tojaveber  Htijhaitd's  Life  ^ St.  ^Ain- 
^'  brofe  is  no  lefs  lavilh  of  his  Prailes  of  Sarah\ 
*'  Charity^  ai:d  St.  Avgujiin  fell  into  near  the 
"  fame  Illiifion  (in  realbning  upon  another  F.xam- 
*'  pie.  0  It  is  a  very  ftrange  Thing,  x\\3.tthef^ 
"  great  Lights  of  the  Churchy  with  all  their  Vertiie, 
*'  and  all  their  Zeal,  fhould  not  know  that  it 
"  is  not  lawful  to  fave  ones  own  Lite,  nor  that 
''^  of  another,  by  committing  a  Crime.  " 

St.  Jerome  is  ^  every  ivhere  exclaijjiing  agaivj} 
Marriage  in  General,  and  fecond  Marriages  in  Par- 
ticidar,  and  his  hive&ives  arefo  bitter,  a?idfjdl  of  Rage^ 
that  with  all  the  Softenings  in  the  If  arid,  one  cannot 
avoid  perceiving,  in  "^  what  he  fays  upon  that  Head,  an 
entire  Coyformity  with  the  Scntiinents  of  TertuUian, 
vhich  were  condemn  d  by  the  Church  as  injurious  to  the 
Honour  of  Marriage,  and  contrary  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
ture. "  He  condemns  ^  all  Oaths  without  =  Ex- 
"  ception.  He  ^  forbids  Chrillians,  to  pa}^  Tri- 
"  bute  to  infidel  Princes.  He  advifes  s  and  ap- 
"  proves  the  Action  of  thofe,  who  kill  them- 
"  felves  for  fear  of  lofing  th^ir  Chaftity.  He 
"  often  fpeaks  of  Virginity,  and  the  monaftic 
"  Life,  after  a  Manner  which  would  almofl  make 
*'  one  think  it  l^cceflary  to  Salvation.  Labour, 
"  Faftings,  Aufterities,  and  other  Mortifications, 
"  Solitude,    and  Pilgrimages,    are  the  Subject  of 

"  almoft 


^  De  Abraham,  I.   i-  c  i. 

*  See  Bayles  Diifl.  A.rr.   Acindj'nws. 

'"  Theft  are  the  Words  of   D^ll■  fie  U Hi  Pitriim,  p    276. 
"^   Epift.  ad  Parnmachj  and  efewhtre. 
^   Du  Pin,  Tom.   3.  p.  136. 

*  Comm.  in  March,   c.  5.  and Ttichir.  c.  i. 

*  Tn  Matth.  c.  7. 
T  In  Jon^vm. 


(3'  ) 

*'  almofl  all  his  Counlels,  and  Eihortations.  " 
He  gives  ^  us  to  underftanj  plainly  enough,  that 
Jefiis  'Chnji  has  aboiifh'd  the  PermifTion  to  eat 
the  FlejJ}  of  Anhnah^  in  the  fame  Manner  as  he 
has  abolilh'd  Divorce  and  Circumcifion.  It  is 
well  known  with  what  Fury  and  Knavery,  he 
run  out  againft  Vigihvths,  who  had  written  againfl 
the  Worlnip,  winch  at  that  Time  began  to  be 
paid  to  the  Relicks  of  Saints  and  Martyrs,  and 
againft  divers  other  Pradtices,  which  the  follow- 
ing Times  have  but  too  much  (hewn  the  bad 
GDnfequences  of.  The  little  Treatife  of  Jeroms^ 
agamft  that  Pricft  is  full  of  grofs  fcandalous  Ri- 
fledtions,  and  falfe  Reafonings,  which  tend  to 
render  ^  odious  to  the  Populace,  an  Adverfary 
whom  he  could  not  refute  by  good  Arguments. 

(St.  AuGusTiN  endeavouring  to  make  an  * 
Apology,  for  Abrahayus  Complaifance  for  his  Wife, 
with  Regard  to  Agar,  pretends  that  a  Wife  may 
yield  to  another  Woman,  the  Right  flie  has  to 
the  Body  of  her  Hufl)and  ^  and  that  the  Hufband 
may  likewife  transfer  to  another  Man,  the  Right 
he  has  to  his  Wife's  Body  :  And  which  is  more 
ftrange,  he  founds  this  Paradox  upon  a  ■"  mill:aken 
PafTage  of  St.  Paul.  This  Father  dares  to  main- 
tain, that  by  the  Divine  Law,  all  Things  be- 
long to  the  Juft,  or  ^  Faithful,   and  that  Infidels 

have 


'•   Dall.  de  Ufu  Pntmm. 

'  I,.  I.  adv.  Joviii.  this  Pajf.tge  is  cited  in  the  car.cn  Law^ 
Dift.    gy,  can.  2, 

•«  Set  M.  le  C  Icre's  Difffrtir.  ^t  the  End  rf  his  Logick^ 
er.titled  de  Arjeiim.  Thcol.  aI  imidia  dudto. 

'   De  Civir.  Dei,  I.    16,  c.  25-. 

"   I  Corinth.  7,  4. 

"  Epift.  173.  Tom.  1-  Edir.  Rrned'flin.  S"'*  Rayl>*s  Phi- 
Jofoph  Commenc.  on  theft  Werdf^Csmyei  them  tt  t»mt  m.  P^rr.  1, 
p.  130.   2t  feq.  ■* 


C  3^  ^ 

have  no  Right  to  what  they  PoITefs :   An  abo- 
minable Principle,  and  which  overturns  all  hu- 
mane Society.     But  lee   here  another,   wh;ch    is 
not  lefs  odious,  and  which  a/o7/(?  would  exUemely  "^ 
fiaht  the  Mernmy  of  the  Bijhp  of  Hippo  ^  it   is  this, 
that  after  having  been  for  Gentlenefs  and  Moderation, 
ai  to  the  Treatment  to  be  objeivd  towards  Heretich ; 
the  Difpiites  rvhichhe  had  with  the  Donatifls/o  heated 
him.  that  he  chan^d  from  White  to  Bbck,  aw  J  main- 
taiiid  openly,  that  Heretich  ought  to  be  perfeaited,  ami 
fmcd  to  embrace  the  Oithodcx   Faith,  or  elfe  to   be 
quite  rooted  out,  which  is  a  very  terrible  and  i7jhuman 
Opinion  ^  as  has  been  remark  d  by  a  celebrated 
Minilter  of  the  Reform  d  Perfuafion.     Every  Body 
may  read  in  French  two  r  Letters  of  this   Father, 
which  were  made  ufe  of  to  juftifie  the  lafl:  Per- 
fecution  in  France  •,  and   it  may  with  Jnftice  be 
faid  that  St.  /lugufiin  is,  in  fome  Sort,  the  great 
Patriaich  of  Chrillian  Perfecutors.     Let  us   well 
obfervethis  Example,   for  it  does  not  ftop  with 
the  Bifhopof  Hippo,  and  he  alone  gives  us  a  very 
fenfible  Proof  of  the  Manner  in  which  the  Chri- 
i\\an  Dodors  have  neglecfed.  or  rather  di'^fgurd  and 
corrupted  Morality.     If  ever  there  was  any  Maxim, 
contrary  to  all  the  Lights  of   good  Senfe,  natti- 
ral  Equity,  Charity,  good  Politicks,  and  the  Spi- 
rit of  the  Gofpel,  it  is  (without  Difpute)  this  de- 
reftable  Opinion  o{  Conftraint  and  Perfecution, 
for  the   Sake   of  Religion.      Neverthelefs,     ever 
fiftce    the  Church    began    to  enjo}'"  Repofe  and 
Qiiiet,  this  has  been  the  common  Opinion,  which 
in  after  Times  was  ordinarily  reduced  into  Pradice 

by 


°  John  eland,  t-err.  at  the  End  of  his  Uook  entitl'd  V  Ouver- 
ture  de  1'  Ep.  ai7x,  Rtm.  p.  no. 

r  See  tJ>e  ^d  Part  of  R^yls's  Phllof,  Comment,  and  the  ^d  Ftl. 
o/Ie  Clare's  ArsCricicaj  p.  Sfj. 


hy  the  ftroneen:  Party,  with  regard  to  the  weakelr. 
'Ihe  Cuiies  are  lull  rf  Penal  "^  Laws,  again  11  Sc61:s 
that  dihered  horn  the  prevailing  one  ^  and  they 
weie  '  Couvijb,  Bijh(.ps,  avd  the  moil  evnvent  Dolors ^ 
who  either  pJiiched  the  Pi c}:uilgatir.v  of  thefe  Larrsy 
or  hovoined  nith  hi^h  Elo^iiivis^  AccLnnatiom^  BeJie- 
di^iotiS)  avd  vmft  humble  ih.irhfvivhgs,  the  Sovet  eigvs 
thjt  kid  nude  tbefc  Laivs.^  or  that  executed  them  with 
ll^vur. 

St.  Lko  in  the  Opinion  of  Mr.  ^du  Viii,  does 
not  much  aboinid  n>hh  Puir.ts  of  Mnr.dity  ^  he  ti  ejts 
them  vei)  diyly.  and  after  a  Mamiei  that  diveits^  ra- 
ther than  rffc8s. 

In  the  1  ime  of  Thcodofus  the  Tovi^^er,  theBifhop 
of  Svfi    a  Ruyal  City  ot  Ferfa,  whofe  Name  was 
Abdtif  (or  rather.^^iftijj  took  the  Liberty  to  burn 
one  of  the  Temples,  in  which  Divine  Worlhip  was 
paid  to  »ihe  Fire.     The  King  (his  Name  was  Ifdd- 
gerdes)  being  informed   of  it,   fent  for  Abdaa,  and 
after  a  very  gentle  Cenfure,  ordered  him  to  caufe 
the  i'emple  to  be  rebuilt,  which  he  had  deftroy- 
ed.     But  the  Bifnop  would  do  nothing  towards  it, 
notwithibndirg  the  Kii^.g  threatened  Reprifals  on 
the  Churches  of  the  Chriltians :,  which  he  adually 
1^1 1  in  Lxccution,  upon   the   obflinate  Refufal  of 
Abdaa,  who  choie  rather  to  lofe  his  Life,   and   ex- 
pofe  the  (>hiiftians  to  a  furious  Perfecution,  than 
obey  fo  luft  and  equitable  an  Order.     ^  Theodoiet^ 
who  relates  this  Hillorv,  does  not  deny  that   the 

F  Zeal 


1  Sit  Bi'.  Univ.  T.  23.  p.  366.  &  feq.  ard  M.  Bernard 
Nouv.  cle  la  Rep.  rie  Lerrr.  May,  1699.  y.  774,  77^1  '»"<'  April 
17021  p.  409.   and  HupfUm.   to  FbuoJ.  CoTHm.  c.  29,   30,  Jl* 

'   Ibid.  p.  37T1   376.  Tliom.tlin  de  rUnite  de  I'Eglifc. 

*  T.  4-  p   164. 

'  See  le  Clerc  Bibl.  Choifie  Tom.  8.   p.  321,  &  fto. 

^  Hift.  Eccl.  1.  5.  c.  59. 


(  34  ) 

Zeal  which  led  Abdcia  to  burn  the  Temple  of  the 

Peyjiaiis,  was  unfeafonable  ^  but  he  maintains  that 

his  Rehifal  to  rebuild  fuch  a  Temple  was  an   In- 

ftance  of  Conftanc}?- deferving  Adnnration,  and  a 

Crown:    For,  adds  he,  it  is  as  great   an  Impiety 

to  build  a  Temple  to  the  ^Ire,  as  to  woiliiip  the 

Fire.    "  ^  But  there  are  no  private  Perfons,  be  they 

Metropolitans  or  Patriarchs   who  can   ever  dif- 

"  peiTe  with  this  Law  of  Natural  Religion  ;  Qve 

ought   to    repuir  by  Rcjlitiit'iGn^    or   cthan^ife,    the 

Damage  rrhiih  cr.e dees  to  his  Neighhoiir    .hu\.Ab- 

dti^^  a  m.eer  private   Perfon,  and  Subject  ot  the 

*'  King  of  Pi?;/fr,   had  ruined  the  Goods  of  another, 

"  and  the  Goods  of  another  fo  much  the  morepri- 

*•  vileged,  in  that  they  belonged  tu  the  iidabliihed 

*'  Religion. And  it  was  a  very  fnrry  Excufe 

"  to  fay,  That  the  Temple  which  he  was  to  have 
"  rebuilt,  would  have  ftrved  for  Idolatr}^  ^  for  it 
*'  would  not  have  been  he  that  would  have  put 
"  it  to  that  Ufe  ;  and  he  would  not  have  been  ac- 
"  countable  for  the  Abnfe  which  the  Owners  might 
**  h.U'^e  made  of  it.  Would  this  be  a  valid  Realon 
"  why  a  Man  fhould  not  reftore  a  Purfe  which 
"  he  had  robbed  another  of,  to  fay.  That  he  is  a 

"  Man  who  fpends  his  Mone}/-  in  Debauchery  -' 

"  Befides  this,  what  Comparifon  is  there  between 
"  the  Building  of  a  Temple,  without  which  the 
"  Perjta7is  would  not  have  ceaied  to  be  as  much 
"  Idolaters  as  before,  and  the  Deftrudcion  of  feve- 

"  ral  Chriftian  Churches  ? In  fliort,   what 

*'  was  more  likely  to  render  the  Chriftian  Reli- 
"  gion  odious  to  all  Mankind,  than  to  fee  that 
*'  after  they  had  infinuated  it  upon  the  Foot  of 
"  People    that    only  defired    to   propofe    their 

"  Doftrine, 

'  Bayle*J  Vi^.Art.  AWas  Remark  C.  p.  5.  Eclir.  2. 


(  30 

*'  Do£tiine,  they  had  the  Impudence  to  demolifli 
"  the  Temples  ot  the  Religion  of  the  Country, 
"  and  to  refufe  to  rebuild  them,  when  the  Sove- 
"  reign  commanded  it"  ?  But  thofe  Bifhops  rea- 
foned  upon  Principles  equally  contriry  to  the 
Gofpel,  and  the  Law  ot  Nature  ^  in  wh.ch,  how- 
ever, they  did  but  imitate  the  Maxims  '^  and  Con- 
dud  ot  St.  Ambvoj'e^  upon  a  very  like  Occafion. 

Gregory  the  Great,  according  to  Mr.  <=  du  Pht, 
is  tedious,  avdfotnetimes  too  prolix  in  his  Explications 

of  Morality^   avd  too  fubtile  in  his  Allegories. — 

His  Morals^  or  Commentaries  vpen  Job,  are  one  of 
the  greattjl  ^  Rcpcitories  of  Alorality  that  is  extant. 
But  he  Jcarce  ever  "  jlops  at  the  Explication  of  the 
Letter  :  He  continually  applies  Moral  Reflexions  and 
JlUgniics  to  the  Text  0/ Job,  the  greateft  Part  of 
which  might  as  well  be  applied  to  any  other 
Paflage  of  Scripture. 

What  has  been  faid  is,  in  my  Opinion,  more 
than  is  necelTary  to  fhew  clearly,  that  the  moft 
celebrated  Dodors  of  the  Church,  for  the  firfl  Six 
Centuries,  are  very  bad  Mafters,  and  poor  Guides 
in  Matters  of  Morality.  We  faid  the  fame  Six 
Years  ago,  when  his  Preface  firfl  faw  the  Light, 
and  we  don't  retrad  it  now  we  are  publifhing  it 
a  new,  after  a  fecond  Review.  The  Intereft  of 
Truth,  which  ought  to  outweigh  all  other  Confi- 
derations  but  that  of  laying  any  Stumbling-Block 
in  the  Way  of  its  Eftablilhment  ^  the  Eafe  with 
which  Abundance  of  People  are  dazled  by  great 
Names,  and  by  the  Prejudice  of  Antiquity,  efpe- 

F  2  cially 


•'  See  the  F^tfl  related  mtJ)  all  its  necejfary  Circttm/iancet  and 
Beflefltons  in  f/;e  Crir.  Gen.  de  I'Hift.  Ju  Calv,  de  Mdimboujg, 
T.  2.  I  et.  50.   p-  i7T5  &c. 

'  Tom.   y.  p.  144. 

*  lUid.  p.  154 

f  Ibid.  p.  13$. 


dally  Ecclefiallical  Antiquity  ^  the  inexprcfuble 
Injury  which  this  b'nid   Kefped    caufes    to  the 
Knowledge  ot  the  true  Religion,  and  ibund  Mo- 
ralii}'  ^  the  Honour  or  ihc    ge  we  live  in,  wh  ch, 
more  than  all  the  pnA:  Ages    has  Ihr.ok  otf  the 
Yoke  of  an  Autlioiiry  deftituteot  Arguments-,  the 
Cancjour  and  Sincerity  of  uhich  we  make  a  Pio- 
feihon  •,  all  thefe Things  rcquiie  us  to  jpenk  1  hiugs 
as  tliey  are  in  themlelvts,  and  to  ju.jge  oi:  thtic 
Dodors   who   liave    been  dead  tor  Icvtral  Ages, 
with  theiaiTicDifinterefTedners  and  the  fame  Liber- 
ty which  we  ihould  do  of  an  Author  dead  inc  lali 
Century,  and  whofe  Reputation  was  entirely  in- 
diiierent  tous.     As  good  Protellants  we  may,  nnd 
ought  to  fpeak  boldly,  without  puttii.ig  our  felvcs 
much  in  Pain  wliat  nia}-  be   fa  id  or  thought  by 
thofe  who  think  themfelves  concerned   to  declare 
their  Jealouly  of  the  Houcur  ol  the  Fathers,  ai:d 
great  Admirers  of  all  their  Produdions,  fo  far   as 
to  facrifice  to  them   the   moft  common   Rules  ot 
good  Senfe,    which  the37-  would    be  very  une.;fy 
not  to  make  Ujc   of  in  other  Affairs,     They  are 
unfortunate  in   being  under  this  dire  Kecelfity  of 
judging  fo  differently  of  the  fame  Things,  accord- 
ing as  they  come  from  the  Pen  of  a  profane  Au- 
thor, an  tcckfiafcical,  an  Ancient,  or  a  Modern. 
We  don  t  even  doubt  but  there  are  fome,  who  do 
themfelves  Violence  on  this  Head,  and  who,  though 
they  talk  like  other  People,  don't  think  from  the 
Bottom  of  their  Hearts  fo  advantag^oufl}''  as  ore 
woii'd  irtiagine,   of    the    pcrlbnal    Qiialities  ^.r.d 
Writings  of  the  ancient  Doctors,  who  have   made 
mofl:  Noife  in  the  Church.    Jt  wou'd  be  inhuman 
to  infult  thofe    who  live   thus  under   perpetual 
Conftraint,  and  we  are  forry  for  it  v/ith  all  our 
Heart,  provided  they  don't  fcek,  or  don't  embrace 
without  Neceffity  the  Occafion  of  betraying  their 

Sentiments. 


(   37  ) 

Fcntinicnts.  But  it  is  veiy  hard  to  fit  down  eaf/, 
u'hcn  one  ices  that  People,  who  have  here  a  full 
Liberty  of  thinking  and  fpcaking  as  they  think 
right,  and  whcle  grand  Principle  is,  or  ought  to 
be,  th.t  the  Hol}'^  ^ciipture  is  the  fole  Rule  of  our 
Faith  and  Manners^  that  thefe  People,  I  fay, 
lake  the  Pa  t  of  the  Fathers  with  fo  much 
warmth,  and  not  content  to  be  obftinately  bent 
upon  the  Support  cif  this  xdJlbleRcmnant  of  Popery, 
endeavour  at  any  rate  to  lay  others  under  the  lame 
Yoke,  are  tiit  ot  all  Pafence  with  fuch  as  Inewa 
lefs  elevated  Notion  of  the  Fathers  than  that 
which  they  ha\  e  tormed  to  themfelves,  and  in- 
veigh molf  bitterl}'-  againft  the  Living,  to  revenge 
the  Dead,  to  wh(^fe  Memorv  no  other  Injury  is 
dr  nc,  than  that  ot  not  admiring  blindly  their 
falfe  Sentiments,  and  fhametulCondnd:. 

Certainly  fuch  as  being  born  in,  or  having  gone 
over  to  the  Partv  of  the  Proteftants,  dare  declare 
'»fhemf(  Ives  f"»  great  Zealots  and  idolatrous  Partifans 
of  fcclefiartical  Antiquity,  did  not  well  confider 
Thinps,  when  they  engaged  in  the  Support  of  fo 
b'id  a  Canfe:  If  they  refledt  upon  it,  they  plainly 
feit  can  never  turn  to  their  Honour.  This  ap- 
pears fufficiently  irom  the  Extremities  to  which 
they  are  reduced,  not  to  let  go  their  Hold,  They 
perpetually  change  the  State  of  the  Queftion, 
thev  contra'^idt  themfelves  ever}'-  Moment  :  They 
don't  d:tre  fay  in  fo  many  Words,  that  the  Fathers 
were  m fallible,  nor  that  they  never  fell  into  very 
{jroft;  Miftakes  ^  and  )ret  they  reafon  as  if  they 
b' li' ved  it,  and  would  have  others  believe  fo;, 
t^^Y  build  almofl-  always  upon  this  tacit  Suppofi- 
tion  -,  thev  confefs  in  one  Place,  that  which  they 
have  denied  in  others,  and  fometimes  more  than 
is  reo'iired.  In  a  Word,  they  fo  behave  them- 
feVe*;  as  to  gi\e  ground  to  believe,  that  by 
much  reading  and  admiring  the  Fathers,  they  ac- 

quirq 


quire  a  Turn  of  Mind  much  like  to  theirs ;  by 
which  they  fuinilh  us  thenilelves  with  a  new 
Reaibn  and  evident  Proof  of  the  Judgment  we 
pais  upon  thele  ancient  Authors,  the  Reading  of 
whom  produces  fuch  ill  ElFcds  ^  infomuch  that  by 
attempting  to  reilore  them  to  the  too  high  E- 
fteem,  which  Ignorance  and  Superftition  had  ob- 
tamed  for  them,  they  in  Reality  decry  em  more 
than  could  or  would  thofe  who  believe  they  have, 
juft  Reaibn  to  contemn  them  on  divers  Ac- 
counts. 

Mor  onlyfo,  but  they  alfo  im:tate  their  Paifions, 
which  difcover  themfelves  but  too  plainly  in  that 
which  is  come  down  to  our  Times  of  the  Writings 
of  the  Fathers,  and  their  Lives.  To  be  in  no- 
thing behind  their  Malters,  to  Declamation,  falfe 
Reaibnings,  a  manifeft  Ignorance  of  Criticifm  and 
Morality,  to  the  Contempt  of  Order  and  of  Me- 
thod, they  join  Rage  and  Invectives.  They  copy 
them  fo  exactly  that  they  become  themfelves  vet 
ry  great  Models :  Reproaches  run  from  the  Source, 
and  we  muft  do  'em  the  Juftice  to  own,  that  in  this 
at  leaft  they  fliew  a  great  Genius. 

Mortified  to  fee,  that  without  being  obliged  to 
fearch  long,  or  take  much  pains,  divers  Authors 
have  given  us  a  great  Number  of  Examples  of 
the  falfe  Keafonings  and  grofs  Midakes,  which 
are  to  be  m  r  with  in  the  Works  of  the  Fathers, 
infl:ead  of  attempting  ro  lliew  foberly  and  by  good 
Reafons,  that  the  PafTages  cited  cont  in  nothing 
but  what's  true  and  well  thought  of,  which  would 
be  a  fure  and  honourable  Way  of  defending  thefd- 
ancient  Doctors,  whom  they  have  taken  under 
their  Proteaion  :  Inftead  of  this,  I  fay,  they  con- 
tent themfelves  with  crying  out,  with  haughty 
Scorn,  That  k  k  the  Faft)iofi  now  a  Days  to  attack 
^hi  Fathers,  th^t  hnorance  thinks  to  recommend  itfilf 


(  39 ; 

h)  tins  If  ay  ^  that  fiicb  (is  rife  up  agahifr  than,  do  it 
mth  little  Jiidgmevt  and  Knowledge.  In  which  they 
theniielvcs  ihevv  buL  little  Judgment,  lince  the 
Quellion  her-:' is  no  ways  concerning  that  vail  Eru- 
d.tion  upon  which  thty  i'o  highly  value  them- 
felvcs.  It  is  not  neceflary  toimclerftand  all  the 
Languages  ancient  and  modern,  nor  to  have  read 
all  rjie  fathers  from  Beginning  to  End  :  In  ordef 
toJLicige  or  their  Merit  one  need  do  little  elfe,  but 
take  any  Father  you  will,  and  open  the  Book, 
either  in  the  Original,  or  in  the  great  Number  of 
Tranilalions  that  have  appeared,  fhere  are  even 
whole  Books,  that  are  but  a  continued  Thread  of 
Lowneffes  heaped  one  upon  the  other,  as  tor  Ex- 
ample, St.  Aiigujlhis  **  Coimmntaiy  upon  the  Pfalms. 
We  likewife  find  in  the  Collections  ot  Sermons,  in 
the  Books  of  Devotion,  in  the  Commentaries  up- 
on the  scripture,  publifhed  in  the  Vulgar  Tongue, 
an  infinite  Kumber  of  Blunders  and  Stuff  of  the 
Fathers,  which  their  moft  zealous  Admirers  re- 
tale,  as  the  Flower  and  Choice  of  fine  and  judi- 
cious Thoughts  which  they  have  obferved  in  read- 
ing their  Works.  Thus  all  may  judge  now,  with 
Knowledge  of  the  Caufe,  whether  the  Fathers  de- 
ferve  the  f'logiums  given  them,  and  the  Warmth 
with  which  fome  undertake  to  defend  them.  A 
fmall  Share  of  natural  good  Senfe  is  fufficient, 
and  never  was  the  Reproach  of  Ignorano:^  lefs  to 
the  Purpofe,  or  worfc  placed.  It  is  true,  that  fuch 
as  bring  fuch  a  loofe  difhoneft:  Accuiiition,  feem  to 
have  engroffed  to  themfelves  all  the  good  Senfe, 
as  well  as  all  the  Learning  in  the  World :  One 
would  imagine,  the}^  would  not  leave  one  Spark  of 
it  to  any  one  that  does  not  enter  into  all  theic 

Notions, 


f"  See  the   Judgment   of   Mr.    du    Pin,    Bibi,    des    Auteurt 
Ecclef.  ^c. 


(    40    ) 

Kotions,  or  rather  ii]to  all  their  Prejudices,  into 
all  their  Pailloiis,  and  all  their  Cabals.  That 
which  might  make  one  fuipect  ihis,  is,  that  there 
are  among  them  fome  who  are  more  civil  and 
modeft,  than  publickly  to  call  it  Impudej:ce.  For 
People  to  take  the  Liberty  to  think  and  ipeak 
otherw.fe  than  they  and  the  Fathers  thmk  and 
fpeak,  even  upon  Subjects  where  one  does  but 
follow  the  common  ( 'pnnon  of  Pro'.eltants,  as, 
upon  the  Lawtulnefs  ol  Uiury,  to  loc^k  down  up- 
on them  in  Compaliun,  from  the  Height  ot  their 
Underll:anding  ^  as  People  who,  without  any 
Tindure  ot  Learning,  ^.ttempt  to  fig^alize  them- 
felves  at  the  l-.ipei.ce  of  almoft  all  the  fame  us 
Authors  of  the  p--.li  Ages^  fuch  as  dare  niodefliy 
declare,  that  they  have  not  fo  h;gh  an  Opinion  as 
thefe  Peopled  St  Aiigujlhi  or  ^t..Jeio7n -^  ana  to  give 
themfelves tacitly  thelitle  ol  great  Authc  is,whioh 
a  confuted  hafiy  reading  d  abundance  of  Books, 
good  or  bad,  has  without  doubt  merited  for  them, 
and  which  the  World  will  never  en v}''  them. 

But  that  which  fills  up  the  Mcafu'e  of  Blind- 
nefs  and  Pafiion  :  Our  bigotted  Champions  ol  tlie 
Fathers  don  t  flop  at  the  Reproach  of  Ignorance  ^ 
the}'' draw  into  the  Qirtrrel,  befldes,  eithei  dinffe- 
ly  or  indiredfly,  the  Probity  and  the  Religi  n  of 
fuch  as  openly  tell  both  the  good  and  the  bad, 
with  refpect  to  the  Lives  and  Writings  of  the  i-c- 
cleflafiicks  and  Divines  of  the  firft  Ages,  and  wno 
believe  that  they  were  not  more  infallible,  either 
in  their  Lives,  or  their  Doctrine,  than  the  hccie- 
iiafticks  and  Divines  of  the  prefent  Times  One 
of  them  dares  affirm,  without  ar.y  Difgufe,  that 
we  (l)oiiUhcive  aVeticraUoyifor  the  Fathers^  if  we  b^d 
a  true  Zeal  for  Chiijiiavityx  another,  his  f  ithf'll 
Eccho,  That  the  Cayttempt  of  the  Fathei  j  cai  r'lcd  Men 
the  greateji  Lengths  (thus  it  is  he  calls  the  Freedom 

wii.h 


(4'   ) 

with  v/hich  Men  judge  of  the  Fathers,  vvithcut 
jnterefting  themfeives  in  their  Reputation,  but  as 
far  as  Truth  and  tquity  allow)  that  this  Ccvteyr.pt 
lepcls  up(ni  the  Ckiiji'un  Relij^iuv.  If  the  ih}ijiia7i 
keli^iov.  adds  he,  h.ui  iiotfor  Propjgators^  Alejitntly 
pkvs  avd  Lnoreivg,  7/  h.it  Qphiiun  ought  one  to  huvo 
of  it  ^  ■ 

I  acknowledge,  that  if  Reafor.s  u-h'ch  only  tend 
to  render  odious  the  Opinion  and  Ferfon  of  an 
Advcrfal3^  were  good  Arguments,  this  would  be 
one  of  the  belt  that  was  ever  invented.     All  that 
is  in  it  n^uy  be  eafilv  retorted.     It  iriUfl  necelFarily 
be,  fay  you,  that  the  Fathers,  whom  you  regard 
as  the  Propagators  of  the  Chrillian  Religion,  were 
Men  truly  pious  and  knov/ing.    But  it  has   been 
afferted,  and  prr.v'd  by  a  great  Number  of  Ex- 
amplts,  that  the  Fathers  have  not  only  fallen  into 
vet}''  grofs   terrors,    and   been  very    ignorant  ot 
abundtsrice  of  Thi)igs  •,    but  that  they  have  like- 
wife  fafrcrM   themfelves,    for    the  moft  part,   to 
be  led,  more  or  lefs,  by  Paifion  and  Humour,  and 
that  there  has  frequently  been  a  good  deal  of  Ir- 
regularit)'  and  Obliquity  in  their  Conduct.     Yoii 
do  not  at  all  overthrow  this,  you  don't  give  your 
felves  the   Trouble  to  refute  the  Examples  and 
Fadh  propofed  to  you,  ^^m  pafs  Sentence  of  Con- 
demnation upon  that  Head.    Therefore  you   ta- 
citly conl't-fs,  that  the  Chriftian  Religion  is  of  no 
Value  :    You   are   a   fccret  Aiheift  or  Deift,  who, 
under  a  fa Ife  Pretence  of  maintaining  the  Interefts 
of  Chriftianity,    by  vindicating    the  Honour  of 
thole  whom  )'ou  reg?.rd  as  the  Propogators  of  it, 
labour  privil}'-  to  overthrow  Religion  itfelf     It  is 
very  prett)^  indeed,  for  you  to  fet  up  for  a  Zealot 
ior  Oithc>doxy.  rr  the  rtccivcd  Opinions,   which 
you  defend  only  by  odious  Parallels,  and  malici- 
ous ill-natured  Rcfit^icns:  Very  pretty,  for  yoii 

G  to 


(   4^  ) 

to  fathom  the  Depths  of  God,  employ  all  the 
Subtilty  of  your  Wit  to  explain  them,  and  flatter 
3'Our  felf  with  having  found  out  new  Solutions  of 
the  great  Difticiilties  which  in  all  Times  have  been 
raifedon  the  (JrigineofEvil:  Notwithllanding  all 
tliis,  if  it  be  allov/able  to  argue  aKtcr  the  Manner 
you  do,  againfi:  thole  who  do  not  efteem  tlie  Fa- 
thers enough  for  you,  one  would  be  ready  to  in- 
fer, even  trom  your  own  Reafoning,  fome  ill 
Defign  you  have  againft  the  Religion,  which 
3'ou  icem  to  eiigage  for  in  this  Difpute. 

Heic  aliqiiis  latet  error  :  Equo  iie  cred'ite Teuai. 

I  leave  it  to  judicious  and  difintercffed  Perions  to 
judge,  whether  the  Conftquence  be  not  at  leafl:  as 
well  drawn  on  this  Side,  as  on  the  other. 

However,  we  (hall  forbear  ufing  fuch Weapons : 
We  freely  leave  them  to  fuch  as  have  no  better, 
and  we  have  Charit}'-  enough  to  believe  that  this 
Action  of  theirs  is  no  more  than  Imprudence. 
Blinded  by  Prepoffeifion  and  PalFion,  doubtlefs 
they  did  not  perceive  the  Advantage  they  gave 
both  againft  themfelves  and  tlie  (^hriltian  Reli- 
'  gion,  by  an  Argument  that  appeared  to  tliem 
forcible,  decifive,  and  proper  to  fave  the  Trouble 
of  examining  Things  to  the  Bottom,  and  to  throw 
Dufl:  in  Peoples  Eyes.  But  to  undeceive  them,  if 
it  be  polfible,  and  to  hinder,  at  leaft,  the  Simple, 
or  fuch  as  won't  give  themfelves  the  Trouble  to 
learn  to  diftinguifh  good  Realonings  from  forry 
ones,  from  being  dazzled  with  this,  let  us  lliew  a 
little  the  Weaknefs  of  it. 

I  obferve,  in  the  firft  Place,  that  thofe  that  can 
be  properly  called  the  Propagators  of  the  Chrijlian 
Religion,  are  the  Apoftles,  on  whom  the  Holy 
Ghofl    had    conferred    the   Gift    of   Miracles, 

and 


(  43   ) 

*nnd  *  guUcd  hito  all  Truth,  concerning  Jefm  Chrljl 
and  his  Doctrine.  Thefe  Holy  Men  ^gained  D'lf- 
ciples  amovg  all  Natiom,  according  to  the  command 
they  had  received  horn  their  Mafter.  St.  Paid, 
who  valued  himfelf  upon  preaching  the  Gofpel  in 
thofe  Places  only  where  Jefiis  Chrijl  wai  not  named, 
'  leaft  he  Jlmidd  build  upon  another  Mans  Foundation, 
declares  exprell3%  f/^it /row;  Jerufalem,  '^'^  and  round 
about  unto  Ill^'-ricum,  he  had  fully  preached  the  Gofpel 
of  Chrijl^  that  is  to "  fay,  through  a  great  Part  of 
J.he  Roman  Empire.  Tradition  has  preferv'd  in  the 
Indies,  °  and  among  other  barbarous  People,  the 
Memory  of  the  Travels  and  Miracles  of  St.  TJjojnas, 
St.  Andrew,  and  other  Apofties.  Thus  the  imme- 
diate Difciples  of  our  Lord,  filled  with  his  Spirit, 
and  armed  with  his  Power,  planted  the  Chriftian 
Faith  in  almod  all  the  World  ;  they  laid  the  im- 
pregnable Foundation  of  this  great  Work,  either 
by  themfelves,  or  by  Means  of  fome  Apoftolick 
Men,  to  whom  they  communicated  the  Gift  of 
Miracles :  And  the  ordinary  Minifters  of  the 
Gofpel,  who  fucceeded  them,  but  without  any  ex- 
traordinary Power,  and  with  an  ivfinitely  lefs  Authority, 
had  nothing  to  do  but  to  cultivate  the  deep  Seeds 
which  the  Apofties  had  fpread  Abroad  in  all  Parts, 
for  the  Projiagation  of  Chriftianity,  and  which, 
by  their  own  Virtue,  aided  by  the  Care  of  Provi- 
dence, will  always  produce  Fruit  to  the  End  of 
Time,  whatever  may  be  the  Negligence  or  Malice 
of  Men.  G  2  From 


'  John  1 6.   15. 
k  March.  2S.  19. 
'  Rom.   ly.  20. 
"'  lb.  >er.  12. 

"   See    CelUrius'i    DlflferC.     entitled  Itinerarium    Apofl.  &c, 
Hilx  I -00.  Edit.  3. 
"  See  Grot,  de  Verit.  Rclig.  Chrift.  1.  2.    Par.  18. 


(   44   ) 

From  hence  It  appears  already,  that  even  fup- 
pofing  that  the  Argument,  we  are  Ipeak  ng  ot, 
had  aDy  Force,  it  would  prove  nothing  ni  Favour 
of  the  Fathers,  fincc  they  are  not  properl}'  the 
Propjgjtors  oi"  the  Chriitian  Religion.  tut  let 
us  grant,  iince  they  will  have  it  fo,  this  glorious 
Title  to  the  Fathers  ot  the  Church,  as  what  may 
agree  with  them,  in  a  certain  Senfe,  and  to  a 
certain  Degree  :  It  will  he  very  tafy  at  one 
Stroke,  to  dertroy  the  Conftquence  that  is  drawn 
to  lliew  what  they  ought  to  be,  without  examin- 
ing what  they  really  were.  We  need  only  con- 
fider  one  indifputable  Thing,  that  is,  that  the 
Apoftles  themfelves  were  for  a  confiderable  Time, 
fiU'd  with  carnal  Prejudices,  and  that  they  like- 
wife  had  thtir  weak  vNide:  They  do  not  difguife 
them,  and  the  ingenious  Conieifion  they  make, 
,ferves  to  confirm  the  Truth  of  their  Teftimony, 
and  the  Sincerit^r  oi  their  Intentions.  Is  there 
any  Ground  then  for  Aftoniihment,  that  the  or- 
dinary Minifters  who  tucceeded  them,  and  who 
were  not  favour'd  with  any  extraordinary  Alfr- 
flances  of  Heaven,  had  not  all  that  juftnefs  of 
thinking,  all  the  Lights,  all  that  Integrity  and 
Purity  of  Heart,  which  we  could  wilh  to  find  in 
them. 

The  Prcpjigators  nf  the  Chyifriati  R.diglon,  muft 
vecejjinily  (it  is  faid)  have  been  Alen  truly  pious  avd 
hiomvg.  But  all  fdch  as  have  contributed  any 
Thing,  to  the  Propagation  of  Chriftianity,  after 
the  Apoftles,  muil:  they  needs  have  been  fuch 
or  only  fome  of  them  ?  No  one  will  ofFer  to  fay 
the  iirft:  And  if  we  leave  only  the  laft  Part  of 
the  Queflion,  I  will  aik,  b}^  what  could  we  know, 
that  this  Privilege  was  refervVl  to  fuch  or  fuch, 
rather  than  to  others?  Shall  this  be  at  the  Time, 
in  v/hich  they  liv'd  ?  But  why  xnuft  the  Fathers 

4 


(■  45   ) 

of  the  three  or  fix  firll:  Centuries,  have  needs  been 
trviy  pious  and  hwwhg,  rather  than  thofe  ot  the 
tenth  or  eleventh  ?  it  feems,  on  the  contrary, 
that  to  reafon  on  the  Principle  of  this  Queftion, 
in  Proporti(<n  as  we  were  tarther  Diftant  from 
the  Begnming  ot  the  Eftabliliunent  of  Chrifiiani- 
ty,  its  Piop.igjtors  ought  to  have  had  more  con fpi- 
,cuous  Piety  and  Talents,  to  encreafe  more  and 
more  the  Progrefs  of  this  holy  Religion,  and  to 
fupply  that  which  the  Proots  of  the  Fad,  which  are 
the  Foundation  of  its  Truth,  lofe  of  their  Force, 
by  the  Diftance  of  Time,  in  the  Minds  of  Abun- 
dance of  People,  who  are  not  capable  of  exami- 
ping  them  as  they  ought  to  be.  Will  any  one 
I'^y  that  thefe  Propjgcitors  of  the  Chriftian  Reli- 
gion, who  ought  to  have  been  truly  pious  and  kncw- 
77;jj,  are  the  Dodtors  whofe  Writings  we  have  ? 
Bur  why  thefe,  rather  than  a  great  Number  of 
others,  who  have  wrote  nothing,  or  whofe  Writ- 
ings aie  not  come  to  our  Hands  ^  Befides,  What  is 
meant  here  by  being  tt  uly pious  avd  hwwing  ?  Would 
thev  (liy  that  all  the  Propagators  of  the  Chriftian 
Religion,  from  the  Time  of  the  Apoftles,  muffc 
of  Ncceirity  have  had  a  Piety  and  Knowledge, 
in  Matters  of  Religion  and  Morality,  as  great 
and  as  exadt  as  pojfihle  >  Were  not  the  Fathers 
fufceptible  of  Tome  WeakneiTes,  fomc  PalTicns,  fome 
Errors,  fome  Portion  of  Ignorance  ?  Muft  God 
haveinterpos'd  in  a  miraculous  Manner,  to  hinder 
them  from  being  Men  like  others,  and  fubjedl 
'to  the  Failings  of  their  Times,  as  well  as  to  the 
Temptations  of  Circumftances  they  were  in  ? 
Not  to  have  fo  high  an  Opinion  of  them,  as 
their  bigotted  Admirers,  do  we  pretend  that  they 
were  all  Rafcals,  or  that  fome  among  them  were 
not  truly  pious,  and  knowing  to  a  certain  Point  ^ 
If  we  maintain  that  they  had  not  a  juft  Turn 

of 


(  4*5  ) 

of  thinking,  that  they  have  frequent]}^  usM  falfe 
Arguments,  that  they  were  utterly  unacquainted 
with  the  Art  of  interpreting  the  Hoi}'-  Scripture, 
and  unfolding  the  Principles  of  Morality  it  con-, 
tains  j  do  we  for  all  this  deny,  that  they  have 
retain'd  the  Foundations  of  Religion  and  Morali- 
ty ?  If  we  fay,  that  by  an  Efiect  of  human  Frail- 
ty, they  indulg'd  thenifclves,  fome  more,  iome, 
lefs  in  Paifions,  and  Adions,  contrar}''  to  the  Rules 
of  the  Gofpel  •,  do  we  in  this  pretend  to  pene- 
trate into  the  Heart,  or  the  Councils  of  God  ? 
Do  we  deny  that  divers  of  them  might  not,  with 
all  this,  be  truly  pious  and  good  Men,  and  that 
the  divine  Mercy  may  not  have  Regard  to  their 
good  Intention,  and  the  Sincerity  of  a  general 
Repentance?*  Certainly  we  leave  to  God  the  Judg- 
ment of  that  which  we  cannot,  nor  ought  not  to 
decide  i  We  only  referve  to  ourfelves,  the  Right 
of  charitable  Judgments,  for  which  we  Ihall  ali 
ways  have  more  Inclination,  than  for  raili  Con- 
demnations. But  we  are  not  for  this,  oblig  d  to 
call  Evil  Good  :  We  fliall  always  boldly  blame 
that  which  is  blameable,  without  refpecling  a 
Fault  in  Favour  of  the  Perfon  :  And  as  we  Praife, 
and  propofe  heartily  to  the  Imitation  of  every 
one,  the  good  Adions  and  Vcrtues,  which  appear 
in  the  Life  of  any  Father  of  the  Church,  To  we 
fhall  not  difguife  the  bad  Actions  and  Vices, 
which  we  can't  help  feeing,  if  we  examine  them, 
without  PrepofTelfion. 

But  to  come  to  the  very  Bottom  of  the  Argu- 
ment, which  I  am  examining,  befides  that,  as  I 
have  already  hinted,  and  fhall  fay  more  of  here- 
after, the  Fathers  were  neither  the  onl3r,  nor 
the  principal  Propagators  o^ the  Chriftian  Religion 
after  the  Apoftles ;  this  Argument  carries  in  it 
at  moft  but  a  plaufible  Reafon.     But  probable 

Reafons, 


(  47  ) 

Reafons,  ordinaril}''  not  very  fcjlid,  and  that  never 
go  beyond  a  flight  Probability,  are  perltctly  ridicu- 
lous in  an  Atiair  like  this.  The  Fathers,  do  they 
rcafoii  Well  or  ill  ^  Are  they  fallen  in  great  Er- 
rors ?*  Have  they  fufter'd  theuTl'elves  to  be  led  to 
vicir.us  Actions  and  Palfions  ?  Have  they  handled 
Morality  exactly  and  fully  ?  It  is  a  Fadt,  we  need 
only  fee  whether  it  be  true  or  falfe.  We  have 
the'  Pieces,  the  Books  of  the  Fathers,  and 
the  Hiftory  of  their  Lives  ••  Ler  us  read,  ex- 
amine, and  then  judge.  The  Queftion  is  not,  af- 
ter what  Manner  we  conceive  Things  ought  to 
have  been  ;  The  Matter  in  Hand  is,  after  what 
Manner  they  have  actually  been.  For,  if  the 
Fact  be  true,  inftead  of  concluding,  as  they  would 
have  us,  that  the  Fathers  muft  needs  have  been 
fuch  as  they  reprefent  'em  to  us,  for  the  Interefl: 
of  the  Chriltian  Religion  ^  I  will  infer  on  the 
contrary,  that  this  was  in  no  wife  necefTary.  To 
'reafon  otherwife,  is  to  imitate  thofe  of  the  Ro- 
man Communion,  who,  to  prove  that  Travfiihjian- 
tlitinn  is  not  a  new  Opinion  and  unknown  to  the 
firll:  Ages,  tell  us  gravely  that  it  was  not  polfible 
that  this  Opinion,  Oiould  introduce  itfelf  into 
the  Church,  fappnfTng  it  not  to  have  been  received 
from  the  Beginning.  If  with  a  profound  Study 
of  all  the  Subtiltics  of  the  Mathematicks,  and 
an  Affedtation  of  being  able  to  talk  on  all  Sorts 
of  Subjedts,  a  Man  Ihould  have  his  Mind  no  bet- 
ter turn'd,  I  am  very  much  afraid,  he  would  make 
the  World  take  up  a  very  bad  Opinion  of  Algebra, 
'and  that  vafl:  Circle  of  Science,  which  he  fo 
much  values  himfclf  upon. 

Is  it  not  true,  for  Example,  that  from  the  fe- 
cond  Century,  V'l^or  f^Bilhop  oi  Ro??ie,  caus'd  much 

Difturbance, 


Eufcb:  Hirt-Ecclef.  I.  y.    c.  27; 


( 4n 

Diilurbance,  to  maiiUain  his  Opinion  upon  this 
important  Qiieftion,  ffljut  Bay  ought  to  he   celebra- 
ted for  Lalter  ?  And  that  he  excommunicated  the 
Chinches   of   JJia,    bccanfe  they   celebrated  that 
Feait  the  i  4th  Day  of  the  Moon  ol"  ALnch,  and 
not   the  Sunday  after,  as  he  would  have  ii  ?  The 
unlliakcn  Fidelity,  with   which  he  ftord  by  the 
Chri'dian  Religion,  for  which  he  even  furter'd  Mar- 
tyrdom, had  not  made   him  incapable  of  being 
warm  about  Trifles,   and  oirending  again  ft    the 
Spirit  ot   Peace  and  Charii)r,  which  the  Gofpcl 
lb   forcibl}''   recommends.      >>t.  Irev&iis   wrote    to 
him  upon  that  Head,  and  very  iiveiily  cenfurd 
his  Prf  ceeding.     Will  you  have  another  Example 
of  a  Father  of  the  Church,  a  Martyr  likewife  ? 
See,  in   the    2d  Century,  the   fcandalous   Broils, 
there  were  between  St.  Cypiian,  BiOiop  of  Qrtthjgc 
and  Stcphe)!,  Biihop  of  Rome.     The  firft  had  got  it, 
to  be  ckcided  in  a  Council,  that  fnch  as  had  been 
baptized  by  Hereticlcs  iliould  be  rebaptiz'd.    ""  Ste- 
*'  phett,  "i  irritated,  perhaps,  that  they  had  come  to 
"  a  Decision  without  firil  confulting  him,  was,  on 
"  the  contrary,  of  a  very  different  Opinion,     He 
"  wrote  St.  Cyprian  a  Letter,  which  is  loft,  where 
"  he  rcjecVed  and  condemn'd  the  Decifions  ci  the 
*'  Counci'  of  Caithage-^  excommunicated  all  thofe 
"  that  had  been  prefent  at  it  •  and  declar'd   that 
"  they  ought  to  receive,  without  rebaptizing  them, 
"  all  fuch  as  would  join  themfelves  to  the  Church, 
"  from  whatfoever  Herefy  they   came  :    Which 
*'  gave  Birth  to   a  troublefome  S:hifm  between 
*'  the  Churches  of  Afyjcci.    and    that  of  Roml. 
"  At  that  Time,  Vompey,  Bifliop  of  Sabrata,  a  City 
"  of  Africa,  entreated  the  Bifnop  of  Carthage   to 

conni- 


'i  St.  Cyprun's    l-j/e,    hy  le  Clerc.  Bibl.  Uaiv.    Tom.   12. 

p.    371.   &!, 


(  4»   ) 

"  communicate  tt)  him  the  Opinion  of  Stephen  ; 
"  whereupon  St.  C)pyia7i  fent  him  his  Letter  with 
*'  a  Conmtaiion  ot"  it,  whf  re  he  is  ver}'-  far  from 
"  obferving  the  Rules  of  Patience  which  he  lays 
"  down  in  the  Book,  where  he  treats  of  that  Vir- 
*'  tue  :  As  Stephen,  on  his  P-art,  had  violated  them 
"  after  a  moft  fhameful  A'lanner.  We  may  fee 
*'  from  thence,  that  the  Praifcs  which  our  Martyr 
*'  gives  the  Chriftians  on  that  Head,  at  the  Be- 
"  ginning  of  the  fame  Book,  where  he  fays,  thit 
"  they  do  not  boaft  at  all  of  their  Virtues,  at  the 
*'  fame  Time  that  he  boafts  extreamly  ot  them, 
"  were  of  thofe  Sorts  ot  Praifcs  which  teach  us  ra- 
"  ther  what  thofe  ought  to  have  been  to  whom 
"  they  are  given,  than  what  they  rcall}''  were. 
'^  He  charges  Stephen  with  having  wrote  with  Ai*- 
"  rogance,  and  divers  other  Things  that  made 
"  nothing  to  the  Subject-,  of  having  contradided 
"  himfelt,  and   talk'd  like  an  ignorant  and  filly 

''  fellow. Of  taking  the  Part  of  Hereticks, 

"  againft  the  Church,  and  betraying  it :  All  this 
"  with  extraordinary  Warmth.  It  is  true,  he  adls 
"  alike  in  all  his  Difputes,  where  he  fpeaks  only 
"  of  Fpifcopal  Difcipline  and  Authority,  without 
"  Ihcwing  much  Good-Nature.  And  indeed  it  was 
"  no  more  the  Cuftom,  in  thofe  Da3''s^  to  difpute 
"  with  Moderation  than  it  is  at  pre  fent. 

'■  In  the  Beginning  of  the  Fourth  Century,  ^ 
'*  Eleven  or  Twelve  Bilhops  met  together  at Cf;f&« 
"  in  the  Year  ^cj,  where  they  reproached  one  the 
"  other  with  enormous  Crimes.  The  greated 
"  Part  of  them  had  given  up  the  Scriptures  to  the 
"  Pagans,    to   avoid    Perfecution,   when    a  great 

H  Num- 


'  Bibl.  Univ.  T.    24.  p.   241.    from  Fkuvy's  Ecclef.   Hift. 
T.  2.  p.  580,  &c. 


(  40 

"  Number  of  Lay  Chyiji'iam  had  fufixred  it  with 

"  Conitancy  :    Others  of  them  had   thenifelves 

"  thrown  them  into  the  Fire.     One  rurpm  ius  of 

"  Lmata,    was  accufed  of  having  put  to  Death 

"  Two  of  his  Siller's  Children.     Inltead  of-  excu- 

*'  firg  hinifelf,  he  anfwered  boldly:    As  for  me, 

"  I  have  killed,  ami  I  do  kill  thofe  that  arc  againjhne : 

*'  Dont  etlige  me  to  Jay  ajiy  Thing  jmthcr  :  Te  know 

"  very  well,  thatlcarefornoAlanhyeathiyrg.     From 

"  the  ""  Time  that    the    Emperors    began   to    be 

"  Chriftians,  Pleafures  and  Paftimes  were  intro- 

*'  duced  into  the  Church,  and  nothing  was  to  be 

"  feen  among  the  Ecclefiafticks,    but  Enmities 

"  and  Divifions.     And  bccaufe  that  the  Bilfiops 

"  were  rich,  and  well  look'd  upon,   all  ^  manner 

"  of  Means  were  ufed  to  arri^'^e  at  the  Epifcopacy  ^ 

"  and  when  it  was  obtained,  the  Bifhop  exercifed 

"  a  tyrannical  Authority-    Thefe  Diforders  en- 

"  creafed    every   D^y,   till  they    came    to   the 

"  Height  at  which  we  have  feen  them,    as  the 

*'  Learned   Lif}   Archbifliop  Ufier  (hews,    in    a 

"  Treatife  of  his,  cited  in  the  Margin,  by  a  great 

"  Number  of  Paffages  of  celebrated  Authors,  who 

"  have  left  us  frightful  Pidures  of  the  Corruption 

"  of  their  Times."    I  have  already  cited  Gregory 

of  Naziavzmn  upon  this  Head,  let  us  add  here 

^  Sidpitius  Severiis,  who  lived  in  the  fame  Century. 

"  When  he's  fpeaking  ^  of  the  Manners  of  the 

*'  Ecclefiafticks  in  his  Time,  as  in  Book  the  Firfl, 

"  where,  after  having  obferved,  that  the  Tribe 

"of 


'  Ufier.  de  Ecclef.  Soc.  fuccefT.  Bibl.  Univ.  Tom.  9.  p.  y.  «Sic 
T.  23.  p.  366,  &c. 

^  See  of  DiimCas  Amm.  Marcell.  I.27.  c.  5. 

*    ^  9.  Let.  e. 

'■  Journ.  de  Trevoux.  Edit.  Amfter,  March  &  April  1701. 
Supplem. 


( 43 ; 

''  of  Levi  had   no  Lot  in  the  Divifion  of  Cajuart^ 
"  as  the  others  had,   he  fays,  That  he  mil  not  pafs 
over  this  Example  in  S7le7ice,  but  that  he  freely  gives 
it  to   be  read  by  the  Minijleys  of  Churches.     For  it 
*'  feemi  to  me,  adds  he,  that  they  have  not  only  forgot 
that  Pi  ecept.,  but  that  they  even  never  knew  it  ^  fo 
"  great  a  Fondnef shave  they  inthefe  Times  for  Riches^ 
a  Dijlemper  which  has  got  the  Majlery  of  their  Minds y 
like  a  Plague  !  They  ^purfue  with  Eagemefs  after  Pof- 
*'  yt;/fow5,  they   beautify  their  Farms,    they   y  lie  upon 
"  Gold,  they  fell^  they   buy,  in  all  Things   they  fearch 
after  Gain.     If  there  are  any  among  them  that  fecm 
to  have  better  Maxims^   fo  that  they  neither  poffefs 
any  Thing.,  nor  Traffick  •,  they  do  that  which  is  imich 
more  J!)ameful,  they  expeB  Prefevts  without  doing  any 
Thing.,  and   they  dif grace   themfelves  by  taking  Re- 
wards., their  Holinefs  being.,  as  it  were,  fet  to  fale, 
*'  We  may  likewife  fee  the  impartial  Manner   in 
"  which  Sulpitius  Stverus  relates  the  *  Perfecution 
"  that   was  carried  on  againft   the   Prifcillianijlsy 
"  towards  the  End  of  the  Second  Book  of  his  Sa- 
*'  cred  Hiftory  ^  where  he  openly  blames  the  Pride 
"  and  Cruelty  of  certain  Spanijl)  Bifhops,  who  be- 
"  gun  to  call  upon  the  Secular  Arm  againft  thofe 
"  People,  and  fo  managed  Matters   that  fome  of 
*'  them  were  put  to  Death.     In  his  firft  Dialogue 
*■  he  likewife   defcribes  very  clearly,  the    cruel 
"  Treatment  which  Theophilus,    Bifhop  of  Akx- 
**  andria^  exercifed  againft  the  Hereticks,  and  the 
**  Haughtinefs  of  the   Ecclefiafticks   of  France.^ 

H  2  One 


"^  Cap  23.  F.d.  Lipis.  Bayle  Rep.  des  Lettr.  May  1684. 
J).  144,  &c, 

y  Aiiro  iiicii'osnr,  perhaps  the  Mtdning  of  thk  ♦«,  that  they  lore 
it  /»  veU  they  are  continualiy  looking  on  it.  See  Virg.  Georg,  j. 
507,  Mn.  6.  610. 

'   Pacati  Pauegyr.  of  Thcodof.   c  27.  Ed.  Cellar, 


(  44   ) 

One  of  the  moR:  famous  Doctors  of  this  Age,  is 
St.  Jerom,  aCholerick  Man,  if  ever  there  wat>  one. 
He  Jiad  always  extolled  =>  Oiigen,  without  ikying 
any  thing  of  his  F.rrors  ^  whether  it  was  that  he 
did  not  think  'em  very  important,  qx  becaufc  he 
thought  they  ought  to  be  pardoned  in  him,  on 
the  Account  oi  what  wis  to  be.  louiid  good  and 
ufeful  in  his  Wr  tings.  But  when  the  A.iavs  be- 
gan to  make  ufe  ot  the  Authority  of  Oiigen,  and 
efpecially  when  JrZ;«  B Tnop  ot  Jemfjlem  who 
favoured  the  Opinions  oF  the  Catechiit  of  Alex- 
andiia^  had  drawn  upon  liimlelf  the  Hatred  of 
St.  Jerom '^  he  inveighed,  without  Mercy,  ag.iinlt 
Origeri,  whom  betorehehad  extolled  to  the  :5kies, 
and  raifed  a  violent  ^  Perfecution  againft  the 
Ongevijls.  Ru§nm^  who  had  been  a  very  particular 
Friend  of  St.  3'^erow's,  having  dtclared  for  Origdv^ 
and  having  alledgcd,  in  his  Defence,  the  Praifes 
which  St.  Jerom  had  given  him  ;,  our  humble  pa- 
cific Prieit  wrote  a?,ainll:  Rufimis,  a  Book  hill  of 
Rage  and  Bitternefs.  '!  he  fame  Spirit  reigns  in 
his  other  Works,  where  he  had  to  do  with  People 
whom  he  hated.  St.  Cyril^  Patriarch  of  Akxait- 
dria^  was,  in  the  Opinion  of  the  Abbot  -  dit  Piv, 
*'  an  ambitious  violent  Man,  who  only  feeking  to 
"  inlarge  his  A.uthority,  was  no  fooner  raifed  to 
'"  the  Epifcopal  Dignity  than  by  his  own  Autho- 

"  rity 


=  Le  Clerc.  Qii -ft.  Hie'on.  Qii.  «.   §   la. 

•'  /;/  his  Atirjio^ry  a^atnfl  RiifTJii  /;e  boafis  of  it  :  Tmperunriiin 
<]uoque  fcripra,  fays  /;c,  quae  de  J.exandna  iC  /E:0f>to  Or-\^^;itfL>f 
pelli  juljent,  me  fiiggereiite  cliflata  fuiit;  Uc  Romiose  iirbis 
Jjoiuifex  miro  eos  oJio  derefterur,  meiim  confilium  fnit:  Uc 
corns  Orbis,  pcifl:  tranflarionem  mam,  in  Oriaenis  o  lia. 
exHrferir,  qusni  antea   fimpliciter  kttirabar,  mens  operatus  eft 

"   V'if  ii  taien  from  the  AhflraO:  in  Nouv.  de  le  Rep    &c.  k 
n.  h  Clerc.  Eibl.Univ.  T.  zi.  p.  19.  I'art  2. 


(45)_ 

"  rity  he  drove  ouf  the  NovjtJam,  and  defpoiled 
"  their  Bilhop  of  the  Goods  he  enjo3''ed.  He  at- 
"  tack'd  the  Jem  in  their  Synagogues,  at  the 
*•  Head  oths  Flock,  took  them  away  trom  them, 
*■■  drove  em  out  of  AlexjndrLi^  and  allov\'td  the 
"  Chridians  to  plunder  their  Goods  ^  founding 
''  thisAdion,  without  doubt,  on  the  holy  Maxim 
"  ot  the  Biihop  of  Hippo^  That  every  Thing  bclovgs 
"■  to  the  Faithful,  and  that  the  r/icked  have  no  Right 
"  to  what  they  pojjefs.  St.  Cyril  had  like  wife  a 
"  Quarrel  with  Oreftes,  Governour  of  Alexavdria^ 
"  upon  whofe  Authority  he  was  continually  en- 
*'  croaching.  Five  Hundred  Monks,  fupporting 
"  their  Bilhop,  one  Da)''  furrounded  the  Governour, 
"  wounded  him  with  a  Stone,  and  had  killed  him, 
"  had  not  his  Guards  and  the  People  flopped  their 
"  Fury.  This  Action  cofl:  one  of  the  Monks  his 
"  Life,  who  was  taken  and  died  upon  the  Rack. 
*'  St.  Cyril  caufed  him  to  be  regarded  as  a  Saint. 
*'  A  celebrated  Pagan  Philofophefs,  named  Hypatia, 
''■  was  the  Victim  which  the  Partifans  of  the  Bi- 
"  fhop  facrificed  to  the  Manes  of  their  Martyr. 
"  She  was  cruelly  torn  in  pieces,  becaufe  fhe  was 
"  accufed  of  having  incenfed  the  Governour  againft 
"  the  Prelate. 

Would  any  one  know  what  Sort  of  People  the 
Ecclefiaflicks  were  in  the  fifth  and  following  G?m- 
tiiries  ?  An  ^  Author,who  cannot  with  any  Juftice 
befufpcded  of  meaning  any  ill  to  the  Fathers, 
Mqll  infum  us.  "  The  Seds,  fays  he,  (of  the 
"  Nejioiians  and  Eutychians)  fprung  partly  from 
*'  Lazincfs  and  Superftition,  partly  from  private 
'*  Refcntments,  and   from  the  Envy  and  Malice 

"of 


''   DilTertat.  Hiftor.  Rorteidam  1707,   p.   8,  9.  M.    le  Clerc. 
Epift.  Eccl.  &  Crit.  p.  167,  &c. 


(   ^6  ) 

*'  of  the  Ecclefiaflicks,  gave  the  finifliing  Stroke 
to  Perfecution  in  Matters   of  Reiigiou.     It  is 


u 


true,     that    this  «  perfecuting    Spirit  was  al- 
ready   fprnng    up  :    But  it    had    not  as  yet 
exercifed  its  Tyranny,  with  all   the  Cruelties 
with  which  it   was  accompanied  fince  that  un- 
fortunate  Age,  when  Men  divided    themfelves 
about  Opinions,  in  which  there  might  be  fome- 
thing  real,    but  concertmig  which  it  would  have  been 
"  voy  eafy  to  have  agreed,    if  the  Spirit  of  Chrijli- 
"  avityhad prefided  in EcclefLxJHcal  Ajfemblies.     From 
"  that  Time,  nothing  was  to  be  feen  in  the  £'^7? 
"  but  Piofcriptions,  Maifacres,  and  Outrages.    See 
"  how  a  Bifhop,  of  t\\Q  Fifth   Century^    who  was 
"  perfecuted  for  Kejloriixnifm^  fpeaks  of  it :  ''  I  p^ifs 
"  f  over  in  Silence,  fays   he,    the  Chains^  Dungeons^ 
*'  Confifcations^   Alarks  of  Iifajny,   Mctjj acres  deferv- 
"  hg  the  higheji  Companion,  the  Enor^nity  of  which  is 
*'  /o  great,  that  even  Juch  as  have  had  the  Mi  fortunes 
"  to   be  IVitnejfcs  of  them,    can  fcarce  believe  them 
"  credible.     All  thefe  Tragedies  were  played  by  the  Bi- 

^''  JJ)Ops.— Among  them  aiidaciovfnefs  pajjesfor  a 

"  Mark  of  Courage  ^  they  call  their  Cruelty  Zeal,  and 
'*  their  Knavery  is  honoured  with  the  Name  ofWifdom. 
"  This  continually  encreafed  trom  that  Time. 
*'  The  Emperor  Jufiinian  would  not  be  behind 
"  hand  in  Zeal  with  the  Prelates  of  the  Fifth 
"  and  Sixth  Centuries.  He  did  not  think  himfelf, 
"  (ays  Procopiits,  s  guilty  of  Murder,  when  thofe  he 
"  condemned  to  die.,  made  Profeffion  of  another  Reli- 
"  gion  than  his.  The  World  in  thefe  Unfortunate 
"  Ages,  fawthe  moll  frightful  Cruelties  praftiled. 

"  Sieges 


'  Amm.  Marcell.   I.  2^.  c.  y.  p.  233. 

f  Etherius  Epif.  Tyanorum    inter  opera  Theodoritij  T.  f. 
p.  6?8,  689. 

s  .^necdor.  \\6o;  Ed,  Alemanni, 


(  47   ) 

"  Sieges  were  held  cut  in  Monafteries  •,  Battles 
"  fought  in  Councils  •,  Men  entered  with  armed 
*'  Force  into  Churches-,  all  thofe  were  treated^' 
'•  with  the  utmoft Cruelty,  who  were  fufpected 
"  of  favouring  Ophi}oi:s,  vrhuh  often  were  uvder- 
^'  JforJ  ly  Ttoiie,  "not  even  by  thofe  who  defended  them 
"  with  t.begjejtejl  Stjjfjwjs  arJOlJImicy.'  See  liere 
"  thefe  great  i^ights  ot  the  Church,  thefe  holy 
"  Fathers,  that  are  put  upon  us  as  iMe?!  truh 
"  pious  iVid  kvomng.'' 

Rut  the  principal  Queftinn  here  is  of  the  right 
Turn  of  Mind,  -Solidity  of  Thought,  and  Extent 
of  Knowledge  of  thefe  Fathers.  Allow  me  to 
apply  to  the  Fathers,  the  following  Verfes  of  a 
modern  Fjt?m/;Satyrift,  who  has  been  dead  fome 
time. 

^w'ow  ^jjiite  en  eux  Vhonveiir,  l^foi,  li^probite, 
^uon  prife  leiir  candeiir  et  lenrfvcerite, 
^nh  aier.t  eu  qiielquefois  iive  humeiir  dehonmirey 
On  le  vent,  fy  Joufois,  et  fun  prSt  de  me  ta'ire  : 
Metis  que  coynme  wi  fnodcle  on  va7tte  leus  EcritSy 
^w'ow  k  fijfe  pajfer  pour  de  fort  bom  Efprits, 
Commeaux  Roisdes  Auteurs,  qiien  lew  dfnne  V Empire^ 
Ma  bile  alors  sechaufe^  &  jc  hi  tile  d^  ecrhe,  &c. 

The  Inflances  I  have  cited  ahove,  of  thegroG 
Miftakes,  andfalfe.  Thoughts  of  the  Fathers  ^  that 
which  I  have  faid  of  their  Works,  where  one  finds 
an  infinite  Number  of  LownclTcs,  cited  with 
great  Elogiums  by  the  bigotted  Admirers  of  thefe 
ancient  Doctors  of  the  Church  ^  the  great  Number 
of  like  PafTages,  which  divers  Authors  have  re- 
marked andcenfurcd  asOccafion  '  offered :  All  this 

would 


''  Eutycbii  Annate?,  p.  i^^. 

i   See  the  Reflentons  of  Phereponm   {Mr.  It  Clttc)   vn  5f.  Au- 
Hftin  in  the  Appendix  Augqftin, 


(  48   ^ 

would  difpenfe  with  me  from  alledging  an}''  • 
However,  I  iliall  here  give  a  fmail  Specimen,  by 
which  one  may  judge,  at  firft  Sight,  what  was 
the  Turn  of  Thinking  that  prevailed  in  thofe 
Times. 

Justin  Martyr,  in  the  5th  ^'Chapter  of  his 
Thji  Apolog),  fays,  that  the  bad  D&mo7u  formerly  ap- 
peared^ that  they  covimitted  Adidteiy  with  Women, 
defied  Boys,  Sr.c.  All  this  founded  only  on  Geref. 
6.  4.  misinterpreted.  The  moil  ancient  Fathers 
likewife  vented  this  Opinion,  as  certain,  one  after 
the  other,  as  a  learned  Editor  of  this  Father  has 
obferved.  jufin  finds  the  Crofs  "^  in  the  Sails  and 
Mafts  of  Ships,  in  Ploughs,  Mattocks,  (S'c. 

St.  Iren&us,  in  the  Opinion  o^  Phothis,  "  has  cor- 
rupted, by  Jlravge  tr'ifiing  Reafonivgs^  the  Simplicity 
and  frici  Tinth  oj  the  Opinmis  of  the  Church. 
"  What  is  there  °  more  poor,  for  Exaniple,  than 
"  the  Reafons  he  ufes  to  prove  that  there  are 
"  four  Gofpels,  becaufe  there  are  four  principal 
"  Regions  of  the  World,  the  Eafl,  the  Weil:,  the 
"  South,  and  the  North  •,  or  becaufe  that  the 
"  Building  of  the  Church  is  founded  on  the  Gofpel, 
*'  and  that  there  muft  be  four  Pillars  to  fupport 
"  a  Building.  T^eryp/?)'/j;^  has  not  fucceeded  better, 
"  when  he  fays,  that  it  is  becaufe  the  Gofpel 
"  teaches  ns  the  four  Cardinal  Virtues;,  or  becaufe 
*'  that  the  Gofpel  contains  Doctrines,  Precepts, 
*'  Promlfes,    and   Threatnings.      Don't    the  five 

"  Books 


^  S"eeIeClerc.  Klbl.  Chois.  T.  2.   p  35T,   556. 

*  Grabe  Spicileg.  parr-  &c.  See  alfo  Petivii  Dosm.  Theo!- 
Tom.  3.  Trad,  rie  Angelis  1.  3.   c,  2. 

">  I  Apol.  1.  72.  Bill.  Chois.  T.  3.  Art.  8.  &  Bibl.  Univ. 
T.  6.  p.  22,  &c. 

"  Cod.  120. 

"  Bernard.  Nouv,  dela  Rep.  desLettr,  Decemb.  1703.  p.635 


(   57   ) 

Books  of  A'hfes  contain  the  fame  Things'    St. 
*  Ahximin  and  Tbeifbaves  icem  to  have  fucceecled 
'  ftiil  woi(^.%  when  ihey  advance  that  there  w.  re 
'  but  tour  Gcfpels,    becnnie  there  were  but   four 
'  Llements.     Mr.Kr/'ncij/i  has  Reafon  to  fay,  that 
'  ii  thee  were  five,  three,  or  a  hundred  Gofpels, 
'   there  would  not  have  been  wanting  as    good 
'  Reafons  why  there    were  no  more,  or  no  lefs. 
'  Such  LownelH-s  as  thefe,  reflett  Difgrace  on  Hu- 
■'  mane  Reafon.      They    might  perhaps  pais   in 
■*  Converfation,  where  one  does  not  alwa3''s  ma- 
'*  turely  confider  what  one  fays  ;,    but  when  one 
"  meets  with  thcni  written  fericufly,   in  Works 
""  compofed  for  the    Public,    and   to  be    handed 
"  down  to  Polltiiiy,  the  leaft  one  can  do.  in  my 
"  Opinion,  to  revenge  ones  felf  on  the    Authors 
"  who  have  obliged  us  to  read  fuch  Things,  is   to 
"  take  the  Liberty  to  difapprove  of  them. 

"■  St.  Cyprian,  r  when  he  treats  cf  Ecclefujlkal 
"  DifcipUve,  is  continually  citing  the  Paflkges  of 
''  xheOldTeJljmevt,  as  well  as  of  the  ■  Ncn\  where 
*'  one  meets  with  the  Ljiti;/  Word  Dljciplina^  with- 
*'■  out  having  any  Regard  to  Circumftances.  See 
"  here  the  Reafoning  he  ufcs  againft  Liician,  (a 
"  PricH:  and  Martyr  of  C.xrthage,  who  was  for  re- 
"  ceiving  into  the  Communion  of  the  Church  fuch 
"  as  had  funk  under  Perfecution ,  without 
"  obliging  them  to  pafs  through  all  the  Degrees 
"  of  Penitence  :)  The  Lord  hivivg  covimj-vded  to 
"  baptize  the  Nations  in  the  Name  oof  the  Father, 
'*  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghoft^  and  declared^ 
"  that  their  p.ijl  Sins  are  pardoned  in  Baptifm ;  this 
"  Man  hwrving  neither  the  Omvnandmenti^  tior  the 
"  LarcSj   cojnmands  m  to  give  Peace,   and  pardon  Sin 

I  "    in 


Epitt.  17.  Bibl.  Univ.  T.  12.  p.  i54. 


(    58  ) 

in  the  Name  of  Paul.  It  is  eafy  to  fee,  that 
there  is  an  infinite  Dilierence  between  the 
Pardon  which  God  grants  to  Sins  committed 
before  Baptifm  received  m  Jiis  Name,  and 
remitting  certain  EcclefiafticL.l  Penalties  by  the 
Authority  of  a  Martyr,  who  commands  it.  In 
his  Treatifc  of  the  Uvhy  of  the  ^  Chinch,  he 
maintains,  that  the  Indivifibilit}'-  of  the  Church 
was  figured  out  by  our  Lord's  Garment,  without 

a  Seam. 'He  fays,   that  Men  ought  to  be 

'  liberal  tothePoor,  becaufe  that,  as  by  Baptifm 
we  obtain  the  Pardon  of  all  the  Sins  we  have 
committed  before  our  being  baptized,  by  virtue 
of  the  Blood  of  Jefn^  Christ,  fo  by  Alms  we  ex- 
piate thofe  committed  after  Baptifm.— When  his 
endeavouring  to  overthrow  the  falfe  Eicufes, 
which  are  fometimes  made,  to  be  exempted 
from  giving  Alms,  he  relates  that  of  thofe  who 
fay,  that  the  Multitude  of  their  Children  does 
not  allow  them  to  be  fo  liberal  as  they  could 
wifh  to  be.  Heanfwers  to  that,  that  the  more 
Children  one  has,  the  m.ore  one  ought  to  give, 
becaufe  that  one  ought  to  expiate  the  Sins,  pu- 
rify the  Confcience,  and  deliver  the  Souls  of  a 
greater  Number  of  Perfons. 
St.  JeroTtty "  f  who  recommends  Celibacy  as  much 
as  he  can,  and  who,  after  the  Manner  of  Ora- 
tors, often  makes  Arrows  of  all  Sorts  of  Wood, 
ufes  this  fine  Reafon  againft  Jovir'un  :  Cdlihes^ 
fays  he,  quod  cosh  digmfttnt,  inditinn  vomeji-.  This 
Name  was  given  them,  hecanfe  they  are  worthy  of 
Heaven^'    If  you  would  fee  a  Heap  of  Sophifms, 

and 


*?   Ibid.   p.  283, 

»"fhit};  p.  338,  339,  out  of  the  Booh  deOpere&  Eleemofynis, 
p.  197,  2or. 

*"  Rep.  des  Lettr.  May  1^02.  p.  502. 


(   59  ) 

and  falfe  Reafonings,  that  prove  nothing,  or  that 
prove  that  Marriage  is  in  itfelf Criminal,  you 
need  only  read  the  reft  of  this  Book  againfi:  Jovi- 
tiia7i,  and  that  which  he  wrote  againfi:  Helvidius  "^  i 
in  which  he  attacks  fecond  Marriages.  Heboafts 
himfelf,  in  the  lad  Work,  of  ading  the  Rhetori- 
cian and  the  Declaimer  :  Rhetoricati  fiimus,  ^  in 
morem  Dechtnatoiiim  pauluhvi  lufimus.  Jn  another 
Place  he  brags ''  of  Writing  witli  great  Precipita- 
tion, and  without  giving  himfelf  the  Trouble  to 
think  much  upon  his  Commentaries.  According- 
ly he  often  contradicts  himfelf  He  dares  own, 
without  Difguife,  that  in  his  "■'  polemical  Works, 
he  only  aimed  at  anfwering  his  Adverfaries,  and 
puzzling  them,  without  troubling  himfelf  whe- 
ther what  he  faid  were  true  or  not.  He  juftifies 
this  Conduct  of  his  by  the  Example  of  Origeii^ 
Methodius,  Eiifebius^  Apollhiavim^  and  other  Apolo- 
gifts  of  the  Chriftian  Religion,  who,  according  to 
him,  did  the  fame  agc.ivji  the  Pagans  ^  making  j^e  of 
very  doubtful  and  problematical  Argnmoits^  and  main- 
taining not  rvhat  they  thought^  but  what  the  Inter esi  of 
the  Difpute  required.  Further,  he  pretends  that  hs 
only  imitates  Jefus  Chrljl,  and  St.  Paul,  who  main- 
tained., as  he  pretends,  both  Sides  of  the  ^leftlon^ 
according  as  It  was  convenient  for  them. 

The  great  St.  Augiijlln  alone,  is  able  to  furnifli 
out  Matter  fufficient  to  compofe  a  large  Volume  of 
Lowneffes  :  I  fl\all  content  my  felf  with  fetting 
down  two  Examples.  Explaining  that  PaiTage  of 
Genefis  7,.  14.  where  the  Laffw  Verfion,  which  he 

I  2  followed. 


'    Lc  Citrc.  Qiinpl>.  Hieronym.   8. 

'■  Comni.  in  Akliam,  at  the  EnJ^  andVrxfit,  1.  z.  in  Euift. 
aJ  Ephef. 

*  Thu  Vaffage  U  cited  at  large  in  Sentim,  Je  f2Uf frjue,  Theolc. 
d'HollanJe,  p.  368,  369. 


(  60  ) 

followed,  had  it,  as  the  Septiugint^  Thou  Jljalt  go 
vpon  thy  Bt  eajl^  §7id  vpon  thy  Belly,  all  the  Day^  of 
thy  Lijc  :  By  the  Breijf,  fays  he,  ^  is  to  be  iindcr- 
ftood  P.'hie-,  by  tht  Bdly,  the  Dejires  of  the  F/e?/7;  •, 
and  by  that  which  is  added,  ThouJIult  e.yt  the  Duf, 
is  meant  Cw'wfty,  which  enters  only  into  Things 
temporal  and  earth)}'.  By  O.vvfity^  he  under- 
ftands  Avarice:  And  thus  it  is  that  he  draws 
Moral  Reflcdions  from  the  Scripture.  His  Re- 
mark upon  the  Title  of  the  Pfahm  is  very 
pkafant.  "  '1  he  >'  Copiers  did  not  ufe  to  put 
befoie  the  firft  Vfnm.  Tjdmvs  piimm^  as  is  done 
now,  probably  becaufe  they  thought  it  un- 
"  necefiiuy,  ilnce  one  could  not  miOake,  feeing 
"it  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Book,  and  followed 
*'  by  the  fecor.d  Pfalm.  '^X .  Augnjlivc  finds  out  a 
"  much  more  mylterious  Rcafon."  As  thhVfalm^ 
fays  he,  hjtrcduces  God  hiwjclf  Jpeak'nig,  for  that 
Rcafm  it  has  vo  Title^  for  jeav  ar.y  Thivg  fwuld  he 
preferred  to  the.  Word  of  God,  or  that  he  Jlmidd  he 
called  Fhjl.  vho  has  ncjt  been  called  FirU,  hit  One  : 
Avd  thus  it  could  votj  avd  ought  v.ot  to  have  avy 
Title,  for  fear.,  if  it  had  the  Title  of  FirU,  it 
viight  be  thouoht  the  hesl\  ordy  from  the  Order  of 
Nutnber,  avd  vxt  frovi  its  cnvn  Authority.  Or.,  adds 
he,  as  v:e  h.'ivs  already  [aid,  kaH:  it  JI?oidd  be  thought 
that  the  Pfahnisi  preferrd  av.y  Thivg  to  the  If^ord 
of  God,  if  he  had  put  a  Title  before  this  Pfalm  ^ 
for  if  it  had  h?en  called  the  f;  si,  it  Jiiight  have  been 
tinderfiood^  preferably  to  others.  Thus  it  is  the  only 
one,  concbides  he,  that  has  no  Title,  that  fo  it 
may  mamffjlly  appear.,  how  much  it  is  difringuifljed  a- 
hove  others.  "  Pray  try  if  you  can  make  the  Con- 
*'  clufion  ao;ree  with  the  Premifes.  I 


."  L.   2.  de  G-nefi,  contra   ManicI).  C.   17.     Sec  Obfcrvat, 
Hall.  T.   4    O.f.  y. 
y  Sentim.  (lerjuelq.  Theol.  d'HolU  p.  362. 


(■   6i    ) 

I  am  weary  of  tranfcribir.g  To  many  Things, 
2s   tedious,    as  they   are  injudicious.      There   is 
enough,  already  to  paint  to  the  Life,  the  Character 
of  the  Authors  we  are  treating  c  f ,  ar.d  to  let  us 
know  ex  iivguc  Leovem.     I  have  dehgnedly  chofen 
Examples,  that  have  been  alrcad}^  produc  d,  and 
which  are  to  be  met  with  in  Booiks,  that  are  very 
common.  We  fliall  fee  from  thciice,  that  it  does  not 
very  well  become  our  zealous  Defenders  cf  the 
Fathers,    to    infifl  upon   our  taking  it  on  their 
Words,  that  they  were  Men  tudy  fiom  ard  kmw- 
hg,  againfl:  fo  many  Proofs,  known  by  all  Man- 
kind, which  make  it  as  clear  as  the  Sun  at  Noon 
Day,    that   their  Vcrtues  in   general   were  very 
middling,  and  mix'd  with  great  Failings,  thofe  of 
divers  ol  them  even  very  fufptdlcd  of  Hypccrify  -, 
and  as  to  what  regards  the  dualities  of  their  Un- 
derflanding,  that   it  was  often  falfe  and  diforder- 
Jy  •,  that  they  had  much  more  Imagination  than 
good  Senfe  ^  that  they  were  defvitute  of  a  great 
many  necefTary  Ailiftances  to  encreaie  and  per^ 
feet  their  Knowledge,  and  that  they  =»  negleded 
thofc  they  had  in  their  Power,  or  might   procure 
thcmfclves  ;  that  thus  ^  their  Knowledge  could 
be  but  very  bounded  ^  in  a  Word,  that  the  m.oft 
ingenious  of  them,    are  in  nothing  comparable 
to  the  Authors  of  our  Age,  neither  for  their  So- 
lidity, Stile,  Order,   or  Method.     Can  one  con- 
fidently with  Candour  and  Sincerity,  regard  the 
Fathers  as  Men  very  judicious  and  very  know- 
ing, after  all  we  have  cited  from  their  Works  > 

The 


»  See  IfsLtrtr.    Crir.    &    Ecclef.    tie  M.   Je   Clerc.  Ep.    4 
p.   107.  &c.  and  the  RiM.  Chnif.  Tom.  n.   p.  102.  ^c. 

*•  The  yerj  tearmn^  nf  thnfe  that  fafi  for  the  mojl  learn* J,  rrat 
ygry  common^  and  coft  them  very  little,  as  has  been  yery  juflh 
cbj'ery'd  by  M.  Benurd,  Rep.  des  Lctcr.  March   1699.  p.  260. 


(  6^  ) 

The  moft  exacl  and  moft  Underflanding  Genius 
may   be  deceived,   I   own,    and    give  into  fome 
falie  Thoughts :  But  it  will  have  at  leaft  fome 
Plaufiblenels,    and    not    happen   often  ^   and    I 
maintain  that   a    Man  of  moderate   good  Senfe, 
will  never  fall  into  the  ExcclTes,  into  which  al- 
moft  all  the  Fathers  have  gone.     None  but  fuch 
as  are  capable  of  the  like  LownefTes,  or  ftrange- 
\y  blinded  by  a  Spirit  of  Party,  can  fo  highly  ex-  ' 
toi  thofe  that  have  utter'd  them.    Unfortunately 
for  them,  we  don't  live  in  an  Age,  in  which  one 
may  act  thus  with  Impunit)^    The  public  is  no 
longer  the  Dupe  of  thefe  Sorts  of  grave  Affirma- 
tions, deftitute  ot  Proofs,    and  on   the  contrary 
bely'd  by  an  infinite  Number  of  decifive  Reafons, 
prefented  to  the  View  of  the  World.     It  is  ban- 
tering and  flattering  ones  feif  in  a  very  grofs  A/Ian- 
ner,  to  imagine,  that  without  fo  much  as  having 
attempted  to  difprove  Facts  fo  certain  as  thofe  ^ 
which  we  have  advanc'd,    one  can  ward  off  the 
Charge    by  fuch    a  pitiful  Argument    as   this  : 
if  the  Chnjl'ian  Religion   had  twt  for  its  Propagators, 
Men  truly  pious  and  knowing,  what  Opinion  ought  one 
to  have  of  it  ? 

We  are  not  oblig'd  to  give  the  Reafons  of  God's 
Conduct,  of  what  he  does,  or  what  he  does  not  ^ 
of  what  he  permits,  or  what  he  condudts  by  the 
hidden  Ways  of  his  Providence.  Inflead  of  fay- 
ing :  Such  or  fuch  a  Thing,  is  contrary  to  the  De- 
Jigns  of  God,  or  to  his  Vertues  •,  therefore  God  could 
Tiot  do  or  ftiffer  it ;  we  believe,  and  have  good  ^ 
Ground  for  it.  that  we  fhould  rcafon  thus :  God 
has  done  or  fvfferd  fuch  or  fuch  a  Thing,  therefore 
there  is  vothijig  in  it,  contrary  t-a^  his  Dejigns,  or  to 
his  Vertues,  although  our  weak  and  bounded  Un- 
derflanding, does  not  always  fee  clearly  how  to 
make  this   agree    with  the    Views   and  infinite 

Perfedtions 


(63) 

Pcifeciions  of  this  fovereign   Being  :     Neverthe- 
lefs,    as  we   are   not   forbid   to   look  into,    and 
modcftly   propofe   the   Reafons    he  might   have 
had,  not  to  interpote  in  an  extraordinary  Man- 
ner,  to   prevent  certain  Things  ^   if  we  will   a 
lit:le  give  the  Reins  to  our  Thought  in  a  Mat- 
ter f  f  Fact  of  which  we're  d'fputing,    we  Ihall 
eafily  difcover  fufficient   to  iatisfy  ourfelves,  and 
at  the  fame  Time,  wherewithal  to  (lop  the  Mouths 
of  thofe,  who  would  have  it  that  God  adts  ac- 
cording to  their  Fancy.     If,  *'  on  this  Side  the 
Apoltles,   we  find   nothing  but   what  is  very 
indifferent,    and   very    conius'd,   in    this    firfl 
Origine  of  Chriftianity,  it  is  in  all  Probability, 
as   Mr.  le  Gere  <=  has  very  well  obferv'd,  that 
none  might  be  able  to  fay  in  the  Ages  to  come, 
that  there  were  at  that  Time,  Genius'^  capa- 
ble of  forming  fuch  a  Religion  as  is  the  Chri- 
ftian,  and  to  counterfeit  Books  to  its  firft  Au- 
*'  thors  •,  fince  we  fee  nothing,  after  them,  that 
comes  near  their  Writings.  Not  only  the. Heads 
*'  of  other  Seds,  that  fprung  up  in  thofe  Times, 
but  likewife  thofe  that  protefs\l  to  follow  the 
''  Apoflles  only,  don't  come  near  the  Manner  of 
"  "Writing  of  thofe  holy  Men.    Keverthelefs  in 
"  this  Manner  of  Writing,  there  is  £0  much  Sim- 
"  plicity  and  Nature,  if  we  may  fo  fpeak,  that 
one  fees   clearly  from  thence,   that  they  are 
not  themfelves    the  Inventors    of  that  which 
"  they  tell  us,  but  that  they  were  beholden,  for 
**  all  that  they  knew,  to  Jefiis  Chiji^  and  to  the 
"  Spirit    which  they  had  received. "    Certainl)^ 
if  we  confider  the  Books  of  the  New  Teflament, 
on  the  Side  of  the  Manner  of  reafoning,  no  one 

of 


'  Bibl.  Choir.  Tom.  4.  p.  376.  j;?. 


(    64   ) 

of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  made  as  they  were, 
could  ever  have  composed  Works,  in  which  gvood 
Senie  reigns  throughout,  as  we  lee  it  in  the  Gof- 
pels,  and  the  tpiftles  of  the  Apoftles.  We  ma/ 
fay,  too,  that  God,  by  permitting  the  Fathers 
of  the  Church  to  be  fo  incorrect  in  their  Writ- 
ings, and  often  fo  very  irregular  in  their  Conduct, 
delign'd  to  fliew  that  the  Chriilian  Religion, 
which  was  to  continue  to  the  End  of  the  World, ' 
fupports  itfelf  by  itfelf,  notwitliftanding  thefmall 
Underftanding  and  Sanctity  of  thofe  who  ought 
to  have  been  the  great  Supports  of  it.  If  there 
was  any  Thing  in  it,  contrary  to  the  Wiidom  of 
God,  or  which  was  capable  of  doing  Hurt  to  the 
Chriftian  Religion  ^  it  might  be  prov'd,  from 
the  fame  Principle,  that  there  could  not  be  under 
Chriftianity,  Ages  of  a  general  Ignorance  and 
Corruption,  efpecially  among  the  Clergy,  as  thofe 
that  preceded  the  Reformation  j  and  thus  our 
zealous  Detendcrs  of  the  Fathers,  would  have  as 
good  a  Foundation  to  maintain  againfi:  the  Faith 
of  Hiftory,  that  thofe  Ages,  were  not  fuch  as 
the}''  are  generally  believ'd  to  have  been. 

But  utterly  to  confound  thofe  that  are  not 
a{ham'd  to  ufe  a  miferable  Argument,  in  which  is 
not  to  be  found  the  lead  Shadow  of  Reafon,  on 
whatfoever  Side  you  examine  it  ^  let  us  add  in  a 
few  U'ords  three  or  four  Refleftions.  The  firft  is, 
that  neither  Jefus  Chiijf,  nor  his  Apoftles,  have 
either  faid,  or  any  where  given  ns  to  underftand, 
that  fuch  as  were  to  be  looked  upon  after  them, 
as  Propagators  of  the  Chriftia-n  Religion,  m.uft  needs 
be  Men  truly  pious  avd  hiowiiig.  The  Parable  of 
the  ^  Tares,  fown  by  the  Enemy  \  and  that  of  the 

Net, 

'^  Marth.  13,  24  &c.  See  les  Epift.  Crir.  Sj  Eccl,  de  M.  le 
Clerc.  p.  1 21,  122.  &'(.  and  his  Treatife  0/ Incredulity  p.  189- 


(  ss  ) 

Xet,  <^  that  takes  all  Sorts  of  Fifh ;  fhew  fuffici- 
ently,  that  in  the  Chrillian  Church,  the  Wjcked 
ihould    be   niix'd  with   the  Good,    that  fo  thele 
might  not   be  uppcrinoft,  and  appear  with  more 
Advantage^  than  others.      Our  Lord  foretold  the 
Diviiions,  vv'h  ch  would  be  produced  by  the  Igno- 
rance,   vain    Subtilties,    RaHmefs,    Prefumption, 
and  the  Paliions  of  the  Propjgators   of  his  Reli- 
gion.    And   St.  Paid  allures   '  us.  That  there  7JiiiJi 
he  Hcre/ies^  that  they  which  ate  approvJ,  may  he  7nad3 
7fuvife]f  •,  that  is  to  fa}'',  that  ^o  a  Mind  free  from 
Prejudices,  and  which    does  not  judge  of  Things 
by  the  Appearance,  might  difcern  thofe  that  are 
Truly   and  Sincerely  attach'd  to  Truth  and  Ver- 
tue.     When   the  Apotlles  fp^^ak   to  us,   of  that 
which  was  to  happen  in  the  Church,  they  exprefs 
themftlves  after  Inch  a  r>  Manner,  as  to  give  us 
Ground  to  think,  that   the  Fccleliafticks  fhould 
not  be  ordinarily  the  Men  in  the  World,  the  moft 
Pious   and   the   moft    Knowing.      Even   in    the 
Time  ot  the  Apoftles,  there  were  Firebrands  and 
falfe    Doctors,    to    whofe   Raflmefs,    and    reduc- 
ing, thofe  holy  Men  were  oblig'd  to  oppofe  them- 
felves.     In  thofe  Days  fiourifli'd  one  Diotiephes,  ^ 
a  vain  ambitious  Man,who  fyoke  ill  of  St.  John^who 
would  not  receive  thofewhom  that  holy Apoftle  held 
Brethren,  butcaft  them  cut  of  the  Church. 

The  fecond  Remark  I  have  to  make  is,  that, 
in  the  firft  Ages,  as  well  as  in  the  following, 
thofe  that  made  the  greateft  Noife  in  the  Church, 
and  who  had  the  greateft  Reputation,  were  not 
always  thofe  (hat  had  the  moft  good  Senfe,  Know- 
ledge, and  '  Vertue.  At  that  Time,  as  at  prefent, 
it   was  not  ordinarily  Merit,  that  rais'd  to   the 

K  higheft 

*  ^ee  Ldke  6.   yi.  *   I  Cor.   ii.   19.  8  5fe  1  ThefT.  2' 

3.  &€.  I  Tim.  4,  I.  (3^1.  1  PcCfr  3,  3.  JuJe  v.  iS.  h  2  Ep. 
of  Sr.  John  v.  9,   10, 

■  See  what  Gregory  cf  Nazianzum,  /i7»  in  Ins  Timt^  in  his  Life 
p7ii!ilh'd  byM-  le  Clerc.  Bib!.  Univ.  Tom.  x8.  p.  y6,  89,  91,119 


(   66   ) 

higheft  Ecclefiaftical  Dignities.  Thus,  no  t  with - 
ftanding  the  bad  Taftes  and  bad  Manners,  that 
reign'd  more  or  lefs  in  every  ^'^ge,  we  cannot  in 
the  leaft  doubt,  that  there  were  both  among  the 
People,  and  among  the  Cle;gy,  Men  more  judi- 
cious, more  knowing,  more  wife,  mere  realona- 
ble,  and  more  pious,  than  thofc  whole  Names 
and  Writings,  are  celebrated  among  us.  1  leave 
People  to  judge,  to  whom  of  the  two,  the  Name 
of  Fropagjtor  of  the  (bu/liaii  Religion  is  molt  juft- 
ly  due,  whether  to  thofe  we  know,  or  to  thofe 
we  know  nothing  of,  bccaufe  that  the  others, 
took  care  to  hinder  them,  trom  appearing  In  their 
Time,  and  that  their  Memory  Ihculd  not  pafs 
to  Pofterity  with  Advantage.  Among  the  laft, 
fome  through  Timoroufncfs,  others  through  Pru- 
dence, or  the  Impoiubility  they  found  of  fuc- 
ceeding,  were  loth  to  engage  with  Men  ftrorger 
than  thcmfelves :  And  if  any  one  dar'd  to  oppofe 
the  Do£lors,  that  had  g  in'd  the  Admiration  of  the 
Populace,  they  were  Pjon  made  to  repent  theirRafh- 
nefs  :  Witnefs  theAffair  oH'^igihvtim  with  Si-Jerovi. 
I  obferve  in  the  third  Place,  that  with  Refpedt 
to  the  Interefls  of  theChriftian  Religion,  we  (land 
in  no  need  of  the  \*'orks  of  Ecclefiaft'cal  Antiquity, 
but  as  fo  many  Hiftorical  Pieces,  which  prove  that 
which  pafs'd,  and  that  which  was  believd  in  the 
Time  of  each  Writer.  An  Author, '^  whom  I  have  al- 
read}'"  cited,  acknowledges  it  exprefsly :  When  the  Pro- 
te/avts.  fays  he,  coyjfiilt  the  Fathers  avd  the  Coiivcils, 
they  life  that  Study  only  to  learn  the  Hijiory  of  Opinions, 
and  to  trace  out  the  Beginnings  of  Error,  very  far 
from  looking  there,  for  the  Foinidation.s  of  their  faith. 
So  that  it  is  ridiculous,  to  cry  out  after  this,  that 
all  is  loft,  if  we  have  not  a  great  Veneration 
for  the  Fathers,  and  if  we  fpeak  freely  good  or 
ill  of  them.  The  very  Divifions,  which  their 
Ignorance,   their   Pafllons,    and  their  Subtilties, 

have 

^  Difl".  Hiftoriiiuesj  &c,  p.  217. 


(  67  ) 

have  produc'd  in  the  Church,  are  of  no  fmall  Ufe 
to  allure  us,  that  no  confiderable  Corruption  is 
crept  into  the  Holy  Scripture,  fince  that  one  Par- 
ty would  not  have  fail'd  to  have  reproach'd  the 
other  with  it. 

M}'-  forth  and  lail  Remark  is.  that  notwith-- 
landing  the  little  Exadtneis  of  the  Fathers,  which 
led  them  into  divers  Errors,  notwithftanding  their 
very  great  Fondnefs  of  vain  Subtilties,  and  which 
made  them  negledt  Things  more  KecelTaryi  the 
fundamental  Dcdrines  of  Religion,  and  Morality, 
were  preferv'd  among  '  Chriitians,  in  the  moffc 
dark  and  wicked  Ages.  If  there  have  been  divers 
falfe  Things  ;:dded  and  mix'd  if  they  have  not 
been  unfolded,  and  pufh'd  all  their  Lengths,  is 
this  the  Fault  of  the  Gofpel  }  But  in  fhort,  Pro- 
vidence has  boldly  juftify'd  itfelf,  if  we  may  fo 
fpeak,  in  tlie  Eyes  of  all  who  without  any  Reafon, 
throw  upon  it  the  Negligence  and  badTafteofMen. 
God  has  rais'd  up  Men,  who  have  introduc'd  a 
better  Manner  of  Study  and  Reafoning.  We  learn 
every  Day  more  and  more,  to  rightly  interpret 
the  Holy  Scripture,  and  to  treat  of  Morality,  as 
it  ought  to  be  treated.  A  good  Tafte  gains  Ground, 
and  there  .is  Reafon  to  hope,  that  in  Time  it  will 
make  confiderable  Progrcfs.  Perhaps  a  Time  may 
come,  in  which  the  Fathers  and  your  fond  Ad- 
mirers, will  be  efteem'd  according  to  your  Deferts. 

But  it  is  Time  to  end  this  long  l^igrelTion.  I 
thought  it  neceiTary,  once  for  all,  entirely  to 
deftroy  the  only  fubterfuge  that  was  left  for  thofe 
who  boafl:  fhemfclves  of  having  defended  the  Fa- 
thers. Let  us  now  take  up  again  the  Thread  of 
our  Hiriory  of  Morality.  After  that  which  we 
have  faid  of  the  little  Care  the  Dodtors  of  the 
Church  of  the  firft  Six  Cotturies  took  to  cultivate 
K_2 it, 

'  See  M.  le  Clfrc.  tU  cligenda  inrer  Chriftianos  Difleiuienres 
Sentntia,  at  tht  End  of  tht  laft  Edition  of  Grotius  de  ver.  Rel« 
Chrift.   $.7. 


(68) 

it,  it  would  be  fuperfluous  to  run  over  the  follow- 
ing Ages,  in  which  Ignorarxe  and  Corruption  in- 
creafing  more  and  more,  arrived  at  length  to 
fuch  a  Pitch,  that  they  fcarce  left  an}''  Spark  of 
good  Senfe  and  Vertue,  especially  among  the  tc- 
clefiafticks.  To  fajmothing  of  the  great  Number 
of  ridiculous  Superllitions,  and  the  prodigious  Ido- 
latry which  entirely  disfigured  Chriftianity  :  Thou- 
finds  of  detcftable  Maxims  were  eftablilh^d  worthy 
the  Darkncfs  of  thofe  unfortunate  Ages.  The 
Bifhop  of  Rc7):t\  "^  caufed  himfelf  to  be  regarded 
as  invefted  with  a  Power  to  depofe  Kings,  whom 
he  Ihculd  judge  to  be  Hereticks,  and  to  abfolve 
their  Subjects  from  the  Oath  of  Fidelity.  An  " 
Italia7i,  named  Jo'bi  GigUs^  ^  or  des  Lis  (de  Liliis) 
who  was  made  Bifl^iop  of  lf'oyceJh]\  by  the  Au- 
thority of  the  Pope,  received  at  the  fame  time  a 
Right  to  pardon  all  Sorts  of  Crimes,  and  to  allow 
People  to  retain  the  Goods  of  another,  after  what 
Manner  foever  thev  were  acquired,  provided  they 
gave  fomePart  to  the  Pope's  Com milTaries  or  his 
i^ubftitutes. 

The  Lig'.t  of  the  Reformation  re  eftabliflied 
confiderably  hmoVig  T-.ote If ards^  Purit}'-  of  Do£lrine 
and  Praclice.  But  the  Reformers  themfelves,  and 
their  SuccelTors,  have  they  always  followed  the 
Spirit  of  Chriftianity,  and  of  the  Reformation-* 
The  frightful  Doctrine  of  Perfecution  for  the  Sake 
of  Religion,  has  it  not  been  maintained  in  two 
cxprefs  Treatifes,  one  of  Calvin,  "^  the  other  of  <3 
Bs-z.iX  '^  And  did  not  Calvin  adually  put  his  Prin- 
ciples 

••'  T.je  CAmn  of  the  Council  ^/L  ateran  he!d  <zf  Rome,  /;  tranjl.tted 
in  Rj'.l.Uoiv.T.'g.  p.  59.  See  aJfoTom.ii.  p.  387.  and  M  dti  Pin 
d'  Ja  p!uiT»nceEccler.  &  Temporelle,  1707.  "  5ef  Secksndorf 
Coir.m.  i^iii.  &  Apo'.oe.  de  liuheraHifm,  &c.  I.  i- 

"   5??  Whar-ron'j  Anolia  Sacra  SupfUm.  ad  Hift.  Eccl.  Vigorn. 

^  Fideli?  expofitioerroruraMich.  Serveti,  &  brevis  eorundem 
rtfitatio:  U>ji    docetur  jure   gUdii  coercendos   effe    Hsreticos. 

•>  DeHzretici!  aMagiftrara  Puiiiendis.A7o«,f/7e  Friends  of  Jiiftuf 
Kipliu',  in  anfwer  tofomt  Protejiant  who  bad  exclaimed  agamft  the 

Opinion 


(  69  ) 

dples  in  Praclice  on  the  Occafion  o^Servetm  ?  Have 
we  as  yet,  in  thefe  Times,  been  able  to  draw  from 
abundance  of  People,  (who  hai'e  thcmfelves  felt, 
for  To  long  Time,  and  in  fo  nic^ny  Shapes,  the  fa- 
tal Efledtsof  Perfecution)  a  very  exprels  Acknow- 
ledgment, that  all  Perfecution,    all  Moleftation, 
great  or  little,  diredt  or  indirect,   for  the  Sake  of 
Religion,  is  a  true  Tyranny  ?  Have  we  not  feen 
Perfons,  who  have  dared  to  attribute  the  Progrels 
of  Chridianity  to  this  Manner  of  converting  Peo- 
ple,  and  who  have    maintained,  that  ""  Pagavifm^ 
would  he  Jianding  at  this  Day,  avd  that  three  ^tarters 
of  Europe  jvoidd  he  JliU  Pagans,  had  Conltantine 
and  his  Succejjoys,    iijed  all   their  Authority  to  abolijl) 
Chrijliamty.     Are  there  not  others  that  revive  the 
pernicious  Maxim  oi"  St.^AuguJIive,  that  fuch  as  do 
not  believe  in  Jefus  Chri/I,  cannot   be   efteemed 
lawful  PoirelTf)rs  of  the  Goods  of  the  Earth  ?   l£ 
we  conflder  that  few  good  Books  of  Morality  are 
to  be  met  with,  efpecially   in  our  Language,  in 
Comparifon  of  that  infinite  Number  of  Books  of 
Controverfy  that  overflow  Libraries,  and   Book- 
fellers  Shops,  we  (hall  readil}^  conclude,  that  the 
Study  of  Morality  is  very  much  negledled.     The 
public   Difcourfes  appear  not  very  inflruflive  in 
thisRefpedt^  and,  if  any  one  doubt  of  it,  fee  here 
authentic  Teftimonies  which  may  fully  convince 
Jiim.    Mr.  La  Placette,  Paftor  of  the  French  Church 

at 

opinion  of  the^unif)  ment  of  Heretids,  which  he  maintains  in  his  I'o- 
litick',  and  in  his  Treatife  de  una  Religion?,  diJ  not  fail  to  retort, 
by  aUtdgwg  the  /if air  ff  S^rvctus^  and  citing  a  Pajfage  o^'  Beza, 
Trhere  it  is  cxprejly  faid,  Thar  it  is  more  abdirJ  to  pretend  that 
one  ought  nor  to  piinifh  Hereticks,  than  ir  vvouM  be  to  main- 
tain that  we  oiigl.t  to  let  ficrilegions  Perfons  and  Parricides  go 
unpuiiifbed  ;  Hereticks,  adds  he,  are  inHnirely  more  wiciced 
than  any  of  tlofe  Wretches.  S(?e  r/jf  L'/V  of  Li pfius,  i>  Au'ien' 
le  Mire,  T.I.  of  the  Horlt  of  that  great  Criticl',  p.  i6.£J'f.VcfaI. 
'  Droits  des  deiix  Souveraii)s,(^f.  p. 206.  See  Di£t.  de  M.  Raylc 
T.i,  p.4a^,426.  Edit.  2.  Remark  H.  ^  See  V.  Molin^natom. 

Arminianifmi,  c.  31.  Dift.    18.  Maccov.    Diftindt.  c.  3.  ^  18. 
Theol.  c^ueA.  loc  aj.  ^ueft,  xj.  Voiitiusj  ^c. 


/  70   ) 

at  Copevla^e)!,  m  his  Treatife  ^  of  ReJIkulwv^  in- 
troduces People   fpeaking,    who    being    loft,    for 
having  negle.:ted  that  important  Duty,  will  com- 
plain ot  their  Preachers  at  the  Da}'-  of  Judgment, 
in  the  following  Terms  :     ''  We  might  have  done 
"  very  well,   without  Co  m.an}''  vain  Speculations, 
"  fo  many  tiivolous  Enquiries,  fb  manyabllracted 
"  Queflions,  fo  manyufclefs  Difputes  uponMat- 
"  ters  in  which  we  had  no  Concern,  and  which 
*'  have  made  up   the    principal    Matter  of  j^our 
"  Sermons       We    don't    fee   any  body  that    is 
"  damn  d,   for  not    having  known    a    Hundred 
"  Thir,gs  which  you  hare  taught  us  with  Accu- 
"  racy  and  Earneflnefs,  wh  ch  you  might  have 
"  fpared  your  felves.    But  we  are  in  this  mife- 
"  rable  State  for  having  negk-£led  our  Duly,   of 
"  which  3'^cn  never  told  us  one  Word.     You  have 
"  let  us  approach  the  Table  of  the  Lord,  without 
"  tcUir.g  us,  tjiatit  was  coming  unworthil)^,  and 
*'  taking  our  Condemnation,  to  come  without  ha- 
"  ving  beforehand  emptied  our   Hands  and    our 
*'  Cofters,    of  all    that  we    had    wrongfuU]''  ac- 
"  quired.     You  have  told  us  of  the  Mercy  of  God. 
"  You  have  prcis'd  us  to  implore  it  with  all  our 
"  Heart,  and  with  a  lively  Confidence,  without 
"  telling  us  one  Word  of  the  Impolfibilitv  there  is 
"  in  obtaining  the  Effects,  whilft  we  perfift  in  In- 
*'  juftice,  and  of  Confequepce  in  Impenitence,  as 
"  we  doubtlefs  do,  when  we  neglect  to  reflore  that 
"  which  we  have  wrongfully  taken.     In  a  Word, 
"  you  have  left  us  ignorant  ofthefe  capital  Truths 
*'  at  the  Time  when  they  might  have  been  of  Ser- 
"  vice  to  us,  and  you  are  the  Caufe  that  we  learn 
"  them  but  now,  when  they  only  ferve  to  render 
"  us  inexcufable,    and  convince  us  that  we  juPtly 
"  perifh."     Mr.  OflervaU,  Pallor  of  Neufchattd  in 
Switzerhvd,  makes  a  like  Acknowledgment.     See  it 
here,  fuch  as  I  find  it  related  by  a  third  Minifter, 
' Mr. 

"■  p.  51,52..     5«e  rfi/o  p.  147.. 


(   7'    ) 

Mr."  Bernard,  that  learned  and  judicious  Continu- 
ator  of  the  '''  Nnuvelles  de  Is  RepiiLUqve  des  Letv.es. 
''  Ignorance,/.j_ys  he,  concerning  the  Duties  ci  Chri- 
"  ftianity,  is  both  very  ger,eial,  and  ver}"  great. 
"  There  are  fome  which  an  infinite  Kumber  otPeo- 
"  pie  never  think  rf  at  all.  The  Author  inftances, 
*'  tor  Example,  the  Duty  of  Reftitution  :  He  tells 
"  us,  that  Mr.  h  PLicette  having  publilVd,  fome 
"  Time  ago,  a  Treatife  upon  thatSunjecl,  the  Book 
*'  was  read  as  a  fingular  Book,  the  Subject  of  which 
"  was  new  and  curious,  and  that  there  were  fome 
"  who  treatcfl  that  I)f  drine  rf  Reflhiitiov,  as  a  new 
"  and  very  ievere  Doarii:e.  —  Some  there  are,  that 
*'  pretend  that  Moralit}'-  ought  not  to  be  fo  much  in- 
*'  filled  on,  that  fome  Allowances  ought  to  be  made 
*'  toHuman  Nature  ^  whillt  they  ftronglyinfifc  upon 
"  fpeculative  Opinions,  and  even  upon  fome  that 
'■  are  not  very  important.Thereare  (ome  who  have 
''  gone  fo  far  as  to  lay,  that  it  was  dangerous  to  in- 
"  lid:  ib  much  upon  Morality,  that  the  fo  doing  is  a 
*■  Mark  of  Herefy.  Divines  have  dared  to  publiih 
*'  Books,  in  which  they  fcem  to  have  attempted  to 
"  deay  good  Worlds.  Ought  one  to  be  furprized, 
"  that  People  led  by  fuch  Conductors,    give  them- 

"  felves  no  more  Trouble  topractife  them  ? 

"  The  Doctors  appointed  to  teach  Religion,  quarrel 
"  upon  ver}''  ufelcfs  Queftions-,  and,  whilft  the  Pa- 
"  flor  is  bufy  in  his  Stud}'',  or  in  the  Pulpit,  to  con- 
"  fute  an  Advcrfary  whom  he  never  faw,  or  to 
"  combate  an  Krror  which  is  unknown  to  his  Flock, 
*'  the  Sheep  lofe  themfelvcs,  his  Hearers  continue 
"  prepofTefied  with  the  moft  Mortal  Errors  concern- 
"  ing  Morality,  and  engaged  in  their  bad  Habits." 
See  here  the  Depofitions  of  unfufpedled  irreproach- 
able Witneflcs.  I  wifh  I  could  fay,  to  the  Praife  of 
thofe  to  whom  thcfe  jnft  Reproaches  are  directed, 
that 

"  Mr.  RernarJ  Ute  Prnfrjfor  of  PiiiJofofhj  and  Mathtmatuht  in  the 
Univer/tty^  and  r^,?cr  o///,e  Walloon  Church  at  Leyclen. 

*  Novemb.  1609.  Accour.tofthe  Botk  <r,titJed,  des  Sonrctde  fs 
Corrupcion,  p.  y&a,  583,  ySj. 


(  7A  ) 

that  they  begin  to  open  their  tjesy  and  alter  (heir 
Method.    Eur  I  fear  very  much,  that  the  greatell 
Part  of  them  have  been  already  a  long  Time  under 
this  PrepolTeifion,  fo  contra}^  to  the  Obligations  of 
their  Miniftry,  that  an  ardenf  Zeal  for  fpeculative 
OpiniDns,which  don't  coll  much  to  underlland,  and 
in  the  Support  of  which  they  find  their  Account, 
difpenfes  with  their  applying  themfelves  to  a  feri-^ 
ous  Study  of  Morality,    which   requires  profound' 
Meditation,  and  the  Knowledge  of '^  more  than  com- 
mon Places.     This  would  be  a  good  Deed,  if  they 
would   let  alone  thofe  who  do  their  beft  in  what 
they  themfelves  ought  to  do.   But  their  PredeceiTors 
have  fet 'em  an  Example,  and  thej^  are  unwilling  to 
degenerate.  In  Realit}^  who  was  it  that  introduced, 
in  the  paft  Age,  the  methodical  Study  of  the  Law  of 
Nature  and  firfl  undertook  to  giveaSyftem  of  this 
fo  vail:  and  fo  neceffary  a  Science  ?  They  were  not 
Ecclefiafticks,  or  Divines  b}'  Profelfion  ^  Itwasthe^ 
illuftriousG-'oii/w,  whofe  Memory  will  always  be 
bleiTed,  upon  this  Head,  by  all  fincere  Lovers  of 
Truth  and  Vertue  ^  though  he  had  not  acquired  to 
himfelf  an  immortal  Reputation,  by  a  great  many 
l?erformances  of  another  Nature,  all  excellent  in 
tjieir  Kind.     Neverthelefs,  when  that  admirable 
Treatife  of  the  Law  of  7/^arard  Peace  (De  Jure  belli 
&  pads)  appeared,  the  Ecclefiafticks,   infleid  of 
thanking  the  Author  for  .it,  took  up  Arms  againft 
^im  :  And  he  was  not  only  put  in  the  hidex  Expur- 
gatorhis  of  ihtRcman  Catholic  Inquifitors,  (I  fhould 
jnot  be  furprized  at  that)  but  likewife  divers  Prote- 
ftant  Divines  endeavoured  to  run  it  down.     The 
fame  Thing  happened  to  the  Book  I  am  here  giving 
you  the  Tranflation  of.  The  Jefuits  of  Viemia  caufed 
it  to  be  prohibited  •,  and  it  was  not  the  Fault  of 
divers  Protefliant  Divines  o[  Swedejt  and  Germavy, 
that  this  excellent  Work  did  riot  every  where  meet 
with  the  fame  Lot.         _«___ __ 

»  See  M.  Bernard'^  ReficCl'tom  in  his  Rep,  desLettr.  April  1706. 
Art,l. which  drevf  jtPon him afenfekfsLibelfrom  a HnleFttnc\iMiaiJi$r» 

F    I    N    f    S.